


Inside Twilight

by TheyCallMeTheLegend



Series: Living in the Words [1]
Category: Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Minor Character Death, Okay But Have You Read The Books, Self-Insert, Sexual Assault, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:55:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24632674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheyCallMeTheLegend/pseuds/TheyCallMeTheLegend
Summary: Sage is cyclically forced to read a book series, live in said series, then do it again. He has the power of the author; to change the plot and the reality as he sees fit, but the spirit of the plot pushes back, and if he irrevocably ruins something, it's a new story all over again. Being inside the book is his favorite part of existence, and he wants to stay for as long as he can. Today, he enters the realm of Twilight.
Relationships: Alice Cullen/Jasper Hale, Carlisle Cullen/Esme Cullen, Edward Cullen/Bella Swan, Emmett Cullen/Rosalie Hale, Jacob Black/Renesmee Cullen, Leah Clearwater/Original Male Character(s)
Series: Living in the Words [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1780999
Kudos: 20





	1. Twilight: The beginning

I’d love to have a nice, coherent backstory that ties everything up nicely, but I don’t. Maybe I’m a human cursed by an old Greek God to wander the pages of humanity. Maybe I’m the kid from the never-ending story all grown up. I don’t know what the fuck is going on, I just know the rules, so I guess it doesn’t matter anyways.  
The rules are as follows: I’m forced to read a book series, all of it. Then, I’m physically put inside the book, as in, I’m there in person. The characters see me and I see them. Then, I pull the plot around me, or rather, I’m injected into the plot. The story continues until the end, or until the story breaks. Once the story breaks or ends, I’m forced to read again.  
I’m at the end of the first part of the cycle. My room consist of a bed, a chair, and a table. The floor is stone mosaic detailing the cycle. The walls are circular, with no door or windows, an adequate reading light coming from no discernible source above me. I don’t feel hunger or sleep here, just an incurable desire to read. There on the table is a four part series, which I’ve just finished, called Twilight. Here we go…

Something else to mention before we get started, I have the powers of the author once I’m in the book. I don’t know if it’s supposed to be a consolation to my misery, but it is. I can see the plot in (my) real time, as well as the scene descriptions, the characters thoughts and feelings, everything really. I can also change them. I’d make a metaphor with white out and ink pens, but it works messier than that; the words, and world, change according to my will. This means two things, I can alter my prison to my liking, I can have as pleasant an experience as I can imagine. It also means I can really, and I mean really, wreck a story. End the world sort of thing. If this happens, this part of the cycle ends and I’m sent back to the round room. As inside the book is my favorite part in the cycle, I’m not too keen on ending it too soon.  
In this book series, the ending is open ended, meaning to me, that the story can last as long as I can make it last. This kind of never-ending shit usually drives me insane, literally, eventually, but let’s not talk about that. Let’s talk about where to drop. If I inject into the very beginning, there is a very good chance I’ll have the opportunity to talk with Carlisle without Edward and Alice freaking out, (no fucking way I’m letting them hear my thoughts and see my future, as that just spells complicated plot disaster.) However, that particular part of the story is probably the most fragile… I’ve got to very delicately talk with Carlisle while Edward is in Alaska, otherwise who knows what will happen.  
So here I stand, in front of their house, situated in the middle of the woods. It’s late in the evening so Carlisle is home from the hospital. They’ll know I’m here, as they can hear me, and this is already going to mess with them if they think about how my approach was silent, but I’m counting on this. If Alice couldn’t see Edward nearly kill Bella in that classroom, they’ll be more inclined to believe that Alice just wasn’t looking for possible visitors, especially with it fresh in their heads.  
I walk up to the door and knock two times. I can see in the words that Esme is taking her time answering, even though they’ve all heard me approach; they can tell I’m human and so they can’t open the door too quickly after “hearing” the knock. The door opens and Esme is smiling at me, curious but kind. “Hello, can I help you?”  
“Hello, my name is Sage, and I’m here to speak with Carlisle, if he’s available.” Esme nods, unsure of what I mean but steps back to invite me in. The house was quiet, the grand piano sitting unused in the corner by the stairs. Carlisle appears from upstairs, looking quickly to Esme, who looks just as puzzled.  
“Carlisle!” I smiled warmly. “I know that you don’t know me, but I know you.”  
The others, Rosalie and Emmett, come walking into the room, carefully, after hearing this. Alice whispers to Jasper as they walk into the room, looking uneasy and irritated. Jasper holds himself ready, and Emmett, seeing his posture, takes a ready stance as well. Esme looks around worried, but Carlisle holds up his hand as if to steady everyone.  
“I truly mean you no harm,” I say carefully, “I know that you can’t see me Alice, and I’m sorry about that. Jasper won’t be able to feel me either, for what it’s worth.” Alice narrows her eyes at me, looking even more annoyed.  
“How do you know of us?” asks Carlisle. He looks into my eyes calmly, but I could see in the words he was wary.  
“Like I said before, I am the Sage, and I know all sorts of things. I come to you now, at this moment in the story.” I held out my hand and willed a picture into existence. I had thought of this as I was reading, of course. It was very important to appear magical and mysterious, but most importantly, trust worthy. The picture was of the Cullens, taken from the future, as Bella is a part of this picture, and a vampire. In the picture, you could see me as well, standing off to the side.  
They all look at the picture curiously, Alice stepping forward before catching herself and glancing at me. “I’ve seen this picture in my visions, minus him.”  
“I know what it is you’ve seen. Your family is going to grow.” I said, “I am also going to join your family.”  
Rosalie looked offended, “Why should we welcome you?” she spat. But Alice and Jasper were looking pensive. I knew what it was they saw before them, a human, but the others were gathering that there was something more to me.  
“Rosalie please,” said Carlisle, before turning to me. “Your welcome to stay, but you aren’t a vampire,” he says, slowly phrasing the word, searching my expression for shock. “Is there some way we could help you find a place to stay suited for you?”  
“Would you walk with me, privately?” I ask. Turning to Alice, “I understand it’s hard to trust me if you can’t see me, and for your family, even harder, so…” and I reached out with my mind’s eye and found her third eyes vision, a 4th dimensional tunnel, wriggling around, searching. I guided it to a vision of Carlisle walking back to the house in 15 minutes time, alone and safe.  
Alice gasped and almost smiled. I could see in the words that she was deeply troubled by this, that she had felt my guided touch on her vision. She burned with curiosity and indignation. "How can he do that!?" And then a darker thought, "Can I trust this vision?"  
“I see you returning safe Carlisle, but alone.” She said, warily.  
“Sage, you deserve a chance to prove your good intentions. Is there a name that I can call you by?” asked Carlisle.  
I don’t have a name, or at least, I can’t remember it. “You can call me Sage, or S for short.”  
“Sage, then, lead the way.” Said Carlisle.  
I walk out the door and around the house, toward the river in the back, Carlisle patiently following. Once we were at the edge I turned to him.  
“I know that we are still in ear shot, so I’ll be brief, but I want to warn you, we’re about to teleport.” I said. I could see in the words the rest of the Cullens moving towards us, trying to warn him not to go. There wasn’t any danger of course, they just didn’t know that yet. I really hope this goes well, or I'll have to redo it all after I erase this.  
I reach out with my will and carefully grab hold of Carlisle and myself and put us in a meadow. Actually, it’s the meadow from the story, where Edward will take Bella later to reveal his vampiric nature. I chose this place because Carlisle will recognize it as being a safe place not too far from his home. It’s near the beginning of the school year now, so the flowers are vibrant and fragrant, but fall is coming soon.  
Carlisle looks at me know with sincere eyes, patiently waiting for me to speak. I can see in the words that he isn’t afraid, and this is good. He really is such a kind, loving character.  
“I want to ask a favor of you Carlisle, but it’s more like a deal.” I lead, but Carlisle is already planning a defense. He doesn’t want to give me the bite if he doesn’t have to.  
“I think I know where this is going,” he says kindly, “but what of deal would you make?”  
“First, I want to make clear, that while physically I appear to be human, I’m far more. You already know what I’m going to ask, but what you don’t know is that I won’t become a vampire.”  
Carlisle thinks about this for a moment, “What will you become, if I may ask?”  
“I’ll become myself, actually. I’m supernatural already, but in a locked potential state, currently. With vampire venom, I can unlock my true form, my real form.” I explain. “You’ve just seen me use magic, so I’m sure you’ll believe me when I say that I’m a little more than human, at least.”  
“Well this changes things.” Carlisle says with a slow smile. “I don’t like to change people into vampires without a dire need to save their live, and even then, I like to think I give them a choice. This life can be a great gift, but also a terrible burden, and it is not for everyone.” Thinking for a moment, Carlisle nods in agreement. “I think it shouldn’t be a problem to give you my venom, given that it would only help you. It would only help you, right?”  
“Immensely so. In exchange for your help, I plan to bless you and your family, as a gift of my own.” I say. Carlisle looks surprised by this, but gracious.  
“That’s not necessary, really, if it helps you I’m glad to help.”  
“I know, Carlisle. It’s why I’m going to give you a token first” I say. Stepping close to him, I reach out my hand, and beckon him to take my hand. “You must keep this an utter secret, Carlisle, but your son is going to fall in love with that girl that’s causing him so much anguish right now.”  
Carlisle looks at me with rapt attention, smiling in awe and wonder at the thought of Edward finding his soul mate.  
“Now, he doesn’t know this yet, and he won’t be sure for a while still, but something is going to happen that will solidify his feelings for her. There is going to be a car crash, and she is going to be put in danger, and this will be the catalyst, the turning point in his caution. Edward is going to save her.”  
Carlisle is smiling very big right now, and I can see that if he could still cry he would. “This is my gift to you Carlisle, she is going to suffer a head injury, a brain bleed. When she comes into your hospital, she’ll have 15 hours before she dies in her sleep. That is, until you save her.”  
I reach forth, sending warm golden light out of my hand, up and into Carlisle, where it rest deep in his chest. “With this power, you’ll be able to heal small injuries in humans, small bleeds and bruises and the like. It isn’t as much as I’ll be able to do later, when my transformation is complete, but it’ll do for now. Use this power to save her, as she is your son’s salvation, and your families.”  
This isn't exactly how it is in the story, the head injury, but from what I know about head trauma its plausible. And anyways, it's a good excuse to give him this power. He sure could use it for Bella later at any rate. I'll have to check in for New Moon and make sure it doesn't break the plot of Edward leaving.  
I set the rules to be simple and easy to figure out. Carlisle can now, at will, extend this power to heal small injuries, working off the marvelous energy provided by his curse of blood lust. He will instinctively keep this a secret treating patients as he already does when his vampire abilities leads to a diagnosis. I set this information in his mind, so that he knows it, and how it works.  
“Ah!” he gasps, feeling the presence of his new powers, looking at his hand and then to me in wonder. “What a gift! Do you know how incredible this is, that you have gifted to me? My venom couldn’t possibly be adequate repayment.” He sputters.  
“It’s not your venom alone, that you give me in exchange. The venom will be a catalyst to so much more gifts and good deeds, remember? Also, I know you more than you realize. I know that your sacrifice allows you to form such real bonds of love, that because you don’t forsake your compassion for life you are able to be a force of love in the world. Kind, loving Carlisle, you have done so much good with this life, and you deserve good things.”  
Carlisle doesn’t know how to respond to this, exactly, but nods.  
“Well, how would you like to do this? I can’t leave you writhing in pain out here in the field during your transformation.” He asks after a while.  
“I won’t be writhing in pain. And I want you to go back home, reassure everyone that things are okay. I’m going to take your venom and retreat to my lair, where the transformation will take some time. I don’t know when I’ll see you next, really, it could be years from now, but I will return, one day.”  
“Very well.” He says, and moves to take my hand. “I’ll bite you here at the wrist, if that’s okay.”  
“That’s perfect.” I say as he carefully takes my hand, cool to the touch.  
After just a second of hesitation, Carlisle sinks his teeth briefly into my wrist, a sharp pain, then out. As a final gift in this form, I don’t let my blood touch his mouth, keeping an infinitesimal barrier between my blood and his teeth, allowing the venom through. He wonders immediately at this too, then watches me for a moment, gauging if I’ll be okay.  
I hold the venom at bay for now, first I have to make a lair. I wave to him before I teleport again, this time to a room I’m holding in my mind. Its deep underground, where it’s warm and far from the ears of even a vampire.  
Setting the room just so, I decorate it with light and furniture. It has a castle feel to it, with stone and rugs and high backed chairs and couches. Sitting, I reflect on how things went. I need the impact to be significant enough to make a proper entrance to the story, but subtle enough to not change too much. Searching the words, I see Carlisle return home right on time, and reassure everyone that everything will be fine. He keeps his word, and doesn’t tell anyone what he knows or that he now has a healing power. This is good. Looking ahead in the text, it looks like the story will unfold as it should, Edward falls for Bella, blah blah.  
I have to be exceedingly careful not just because the story could go wild and end, but also because of the backlash. The story in its entirety is kind of like a pool that I dive into. There are waves and ripples that occur as a result, and once in, the pool itself surrounds me. The story has a way of keeping its true nature, the tone and cadence of the author, despite me.  
This means that how ever written, the spirit of love conquering all and things working out in the name of love will be a theme that I can’t escape here, and even without my warping the story will change according to these laws. These consequences in particular are very hard to anticipate, and given that it will affect my time here, I’ll need the venom to compensate.  
The vampire mind in the books is far superior to my human mind, and it will aid me in planning my warping and magic. I don’t intend to become a vampire in the end, but before I finish my transformation I’ll use the vampire mind to scrutinize it.  
And so, without further ado, I release the venom from my hold, and let the transformation begin.


	2. Transformation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The venom takes hold, and Sage begins his transformation.

The pain is incredible, and that’s the first part to be changed. It wasn’t even a choice really, every instinct known to me screamed for the pain to stop. Once I could think again, the change was almost imperceptible, I mean, it worked very slowly. The first signs that something was going on at all was an absence of hunger, an absence of exhaustion. Without the pain to keep track of where the venom was in its course, I was forced to observe the actual changes it caused after the fact. I felt as if time was slowing down, like I was suspended in an adrenaline rush, restless.  
Looking through the source material, Bella was in pain for just over two days, or in her own words, 32,860 slow breaths plus a heart race. And that was with a considerable amount of venom bites plus a direct injection into her heart; mine could take three or four days. The first thing she noticed besides the pain, was morphine wearing off, and her hearing becoming sharper. Then, a little later she mentions that she had more space in her head to think. But without the pain to contrast this with, it was going to be very difficult to measure where it begins.  
This was going to take a while, and without food or sleep to break up the time, I might as well be productive. I produced a large white board with some markers and began making notes. I figure, that if I didn’t want to be a vampire or a werewolf, being a dragon sounded fun. I had seen those in other books I’d been stuck in.  
But whatever I transformed into needed to be lore friendly, and so first I needed to make a comprehensive and extensive list of what kind of creatures existed in this world. First we had the vampires, obviously, but not vampires like other known mythological creatures. These vampires could face the sun, cross moving water, enter churches, and so on. They had reflections in mirrors, and rather than an aversion or allergy to crosses or garlic, fire was their only weakness. Well, that and the blood lust. This is part of the linchpin, but I’ll get back to that.  
Next we had werewolves, but again not like traditional mythological werewolves although, the book does mention later that these traditional ones may also exist in the world, hunted to near extinction by Caius. These wolf protectors did not change form with a full moon, they weren’t cursed with blood lust or loss of their mental facilities, and a bite didn’t create them. They sprang forth as a direct reaction to vampire proximity, provided that they had the biological gene.  
What do they have in common though? There is a tradeoff of some kind associated with their longevity, and their hardiness. The werewolves healed remarkably fast, but they could easily be injured by blunt force trauma, and they only aged if they stopped taking their wolf form. The vampires were much sturdier, in terms of resistance to damage and stamina, but in addition to being frozen in time for eternity, they had a blood lust.  
The linchpin then, is the cost or ratio of the tradeoff. The more powerful the creature, the more likely the creature has some kind of fault, some undesirable condition is exchange for the power they have. This meant that whatever form I took, the book would push some kind of fault on me as well, and I’d have to account for this.  
But also…  
If I added a completely new creature to this world, there is a small chance that a plot backlash could occur. The vampires were natural enemies to the werewolves, what was the natural enemy to dragons? Would lesser gods, fae, spectrals, or some other mythological creature spring into existence to balance the plot out? Maybe it would make sense for a dragon to be one of a kind, after all, there is nothing in the books to suggest that the Volturi had met dragons before, just an allusion to other creatures existing. And what kind of an impact would dragons have had on vampire history if not monumental.  
I mean, fire breathing dragons would have been terrifying to vampires, and I can’t imagine that if the Volturi had the means at all to dispose of them they would have. Also, creatures in this world don’t survive if they are unable to blend in or hide from humans. Dragon lore does at least support shapeshifting.  
A list was coming together in my head of what kind of creature I could afford to be here. A one of a kind dragon, with powers appropriate to the race, but also with needs and flaws. My form would be a shapeshifting dragon, practically indistinguishable from humans while in human form, but supernatural creatures with supernatural perceptions would be able to tell, and in the spirit of the story, particularly observant humans could figure it out as well. In my human form, I’ll have supernatural speed, endurance, and strength at least on level with a vampire, as well as magic.  
I’ll have flawless skin, piercing amber eyes, and a pleasant earthy smell on the surface, a sulfur and death smell beneath it. On close inspection I’ll have markings on my skin hinting at scales, and on my shoulder blades down to my butt there will be indications of wings hidden there.  
My dragon form will be terrifying to behold, and people in the immediate area, supernatural or otherwise, will have to fight an inclination to either freeze in terror or run. I’ll be enormous, as big as a house, only able to take this form outside. My scales will be a kaleidoscope of color, iridescent and shining, my tail will be long and powerful at the beginning, tapering down to a sinuous and snake like end. Sharp claws will accentuate the presence of long deadly teeth situated in a maw of flame and death, mounted on a face crowned in horns. Oh, this is going to be cool.  
Now for flaws: an absolute voracious appetite, a need to hibernate annually, and a love for treasure. I think I can tone the dial to be somewhere close to Alice’s love for parties in the story; hopefully the desire for treasure won’t be too intrusive. The magic will be a self-balancing thing, producing fire for example with have obvious consequences. The other things I can absolutely live with. Being in the reading room, there is no sleeping or eating and these things are some of my favorite things to do once I’m in the book.  
After spending hours and hours making these notes and planning my form, I notice for the first time that my hearing is sharpening. I can make out groaning and movement in the earth around me, a hum coming from below. Now that I’m close to finished, I think I can hurry the transformation along.  
Reaching out into the words, I see where in time my transformation ends, and I move forward to that location. The change in mind and body is astonishing, and I have to spend some time getting acquainted with them before I can begin using them. Everything is absurdly clear to my eyes, and they have no trouble making out the finest details of the stone floor or the minute fibers in the furniture. “These will definitely have to stay”, I laugh to myself.  
My voice is different too, sing-song melodic and beautiful, like an instrument, but I’m not sure which family. It’s too clear and without distortion to be string, not whispery enough to fit woodwind. To my ears, it’s like nothing I’ve ever heard before.  
My movement feels instant, and I have to pay attention to catch it. It’s not actually instant, but so much faster than I’m accustomed to, it feels absurd and out of control. I’ll need to take some time walking and moving in front of a mirror to get the human speed right. The power too; I could feel it in my limbs, absolutely brimming with strength just begging to break free. I’d have to relearn how to shake hands and high five.  
But that will have to wait till my final transformation was complete. My mind, far, far bigger than what I had has little trouble fitting the dragon into my imagination. I can see its shape and feel clearly in my mind, a whole image of contrast to how I look and feel now. I start with the cosmetics, and work back the diamond sparkly skin and red eyes to my dragon-humanoid look. Then I reset the thirst and burning, which, oops, I forgot I had left my sensation of pain off. Let me just restart that, along with my appetite, sleep patterns, heartbeat and breathing requirements.  
The transformation doesn’t take long at all with my new lightning fast and spacious mind, and the loud beating of my heart fades into background noise fairly quickly. I’m now a shapeshifting dragon in humanoid form. Complete with all the strength, speed, reflexes, and cunning of a vampire if not more, but without the rigid staleness of a sleepless, frozen state. It’s not exactly uncomfortable to stand or remain still, but I do breathe because I need to, and sitting or lying is more comfortable than standing. This is all in balance; if I really find myself low on oxygen or too tired to stand, magic makes a comfortable and affordable compromise. I would put my hardiness about level with a werewolf in my humanoid state, with the benefit of seeing any danger in the words before they happen. Magic, again, can easily thwart any and all danger to me. Dying is one of the ways for this story to end for me, and find myself in the reading room again.  
With that done, I lay down my authors pen and reach out with my awareness, trying to see what the backlash will be. Despite all of my careful planning, touching the story directly, outside of character with my authors touch will always cause ripples. I need to figure out what’s changed and what is different from what I planned in my manipulations.  
The first thing I notice, is my vision. Being vampire and then dragon, or maybe just because there isn’t a dragon in the original story, my vision is different; I can see all of the traditional colors, if very vividly, but also ultraviolet and infrared, with one hell of a visual cortex. I didn’t have to concentrate or exert will power to perceive visual information relevant to what I was searching for. I can still see just as clearly as my vampire vision had allowed in terms of scope as well; I could see the minute details of everything extraordinarily well and things a great distance away. I’d have to test it when I left my lair later to see how far it would go.  
The next thing that I couldn’t help but notice was my hands, specifically my fingernails. They were claws, bleach white and unsightly, retracted into my digits with just a small fine point extending past my fingertip. Flexing them out like a cat, they extended a good inch and a half outwards from my finger, and they appeared to be very strong. As strong, say, as a vampires teeth, and running them across the floor confirmed they were diamond hard; it was like running my hand through butter, leaving deep gouges into the stone floor with a screech. They changed my dexterity slightly too, I couldn’t quite bend my fingers as far inward as I used to while they were retracted, and if they were extended I could stab my own hand.  
I detected something with my mouth too, it smelled a little off. As I walked over to a mirror I could feel fangs slightly protruding, not enough to get in the way of speech but prominent enough to stick out in a smile. Examining them in the mirror, the mirror fogged up too quickly to get a good look at them, and that’s when I smelled it. Sulfur and death. Standing back just a bit from the mirror, I blew out hard, trying to get a good smell of my breath, when out roared a flame.  
I jumped in surprise, which felt out of place all on its own, and I actually left the ground for a moment in the power of the jump. Flame just shot out of my mouth, fuck. I could feel its origin deep in my chest, my flame organ. I flexed it experimentally without breathing out too hard and got a big whiff of sulfur. Ah, well that’s good to know, hopefully if I refrain from flexing it I won’t have horrible stinking breath for the rest of my time here. Flexing it again, this time I blew with some force, and flame speared out from my pursed lips, some ten feet in a stream of smoking, roaring flame. I could feel the temperature rise drastically, and it felt good.  
It felt quite good actually, like the hotter it was the better. Where the flame had touched my lips, been close to my face, it had felt like the most wonderful sun kissed basking, like a bright beach and freshly baked bread and piping hot coffee and a warm summer campfire all rolled into one beautiful feeling. I suspect that heat is kind of my thing, in terms of temperature preferences, and I’ll have to see how cold weather feels.  
Looking back at the mirror, my eyes practically glowed, a rich amber-red. I smiled, and tried to keep my lips together, looking for the fangs. They were there, but barely noticeable. My stomach growled just then, angry and loud.  
I turned away from the mirror and summoned a large dining table over in a clear area of my lair, hung lights to illuminate it well, and then summoned a feast. Eating in glutton is one of my favorite parts to living in the books; not needing to eat is fine when food is scarce, but there is no pleasure in fasting either, even without a need to eat.  
I don’t know how long I spent moving over the table, grabbing everything in sight and shoveling it in. In one part of my mind I knew that this was abnormal, how deep and desperate my hunger was, how quickly everything went down, chewing or not. I ate with reckless abandon and giddy greed, until not a single scrap of food was left. So that’s what the hunger will be like, hmpf. Well, I’ll fit right in with the werewolves.  
In the books, the vampires at least had an insatiable hunger, or thirst I should say, especially when they were a new born. Maybe my hunger won’t always be like this, but until I’ve had time to learn it, I’ll have to make sure to plan and account for it. At least summoning an incredible amount of food is trivially easy, and gorging is one of my favorite things to do.  
This is a gray area for me, the new. On the one hand, yes I can read a description about myself and maybe glean some insight, like “Sage hadn’t eaten all day and his stomach was about to make demands,” but on the other hand, this isn’t a part of the original work. That means that while I can kind of see descriptions of me, about me, it also looks, for lack of a better description, like someone scribbled some notes in the ledges. Maybe an asterisked note in the footer. And if the book had even a single element of surprise or mystery or suspense, well, then I may very well be in for a ride and have to wait to see how the story literally plays out.  
I’m thinking of this, right now, because I’m feeling my final backlash. An incurable, insatiable, desperate, growing need for treasure. It feels like something I have to do, and it’s incredibly important, consuming my focus. No, it can’t wait till later. There is something I’m missing, I’m supposed to like treasure, as dragons do, but I don’t need it… and yet it feels like something terrible will happen if I don’t get it sorted right now. It feels very pressing, and as I try to summon in my mind what treasure looks like before I teleport or create it here, like I’ve done with my food and my furniture, a thought springs forward to the very sole focus of my mind.  
A plot device, or should I say, an actual thing in the plot. Aro’s necklace that he bequeathed onto Bella to celebrate her becoming a vampire. The Volturi have a treasure trove. Yes, and what was it specifically mentioned in the book? An ornately carved, ancient wooden box inlaid with gold and mother-of-pearl, ornamented with a rainbow of gemstones. Alice had said that the box itself would have outshone any piece of jewelry besides the one inside it. Carlisle mentions that they belonged to John of England, thirteenth century. And inside the box…  
In the back of my authors mind, the author is screaming that this is a bad idea, that this could break the story, break the world. But I can’t think of anything else. There is priceless treasure there, unimaginable wealth, and the plot must go on after all. The plot must go on, indeed.


	3. Treasure Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sage goes after some treasure. To my readers, this chapter took way longer than I anticipated to write, I hope you enjoy.

“If I were the Volturi, where would I keep my treasure?” I think to myself, looking at the medieval Volturi castle in the square, its distinguishable turret rising above the rest of the structure. Looking through the source material, the Volturi own most of the surrounding property, and the actual castle extends a few floors up and three floors below ground, below being where the Volturi can be found. Fuck, it could be anywhere.  
Why would they hide it in the first place, I mean who would dare try to steal from them? Who could dare to steal from them? Well, me, but, I couldn’t get caught, either.  
Since leaving my lair, and watching the castle, thinking, I’d come to my senses a bit. There was a restless, unwavering drive to acquire treasure, yes, but my true self, my author self knew that this was very dangerous. If the Volturi find me, I doubt they’d let me go before bringing me to Aro, not if any one part of my story self was noticed, that I wasn’t human. If they suspected I was anything other than a ghost really; a human wouldn’t be allowed to live, nor would a vampire, and I shuddered to think what would happen if they found out I was neither at this point in the story. I had to be exquisitely careful that the Volturi never even knew I was here.  
Another thing that was becoming evident about my need for treasure; there was a deadline. With my heightened awareness I could feel the draw very slowly getting stronger; it felt like something really, really bad would happen if I didn’t successfully acquire treasure sometime between mid fall and winter by my estimates. Which gave me about two months, maybe three before I went, I don’t know, berserk. Something akin to unrest, or maybe madness. I wasn’t sure, but that didn’t need to happen, I just had to have treasure, so I’ll focus on that.  
Now let’s see, right about this time Edward is coming back from Alaska and actually talking with Bella, which means the audience isn’t aware of the Volturi yet. This might be my saving grace for this heist; as long as this new plotline remained a prequel of sorts to the Volturi later written then we should be okay. I just can’t kill anyone, I can’t be seen or heard by anyone, and I can’t leave a single trace that I was even here. Right, easy.  
I’m lounging at a coffee shop first of all, as I highly suspect that even though I may not spot them, there should be vampires lurking about watching the city, and I can hardly stand around gawking at the castle. There’s very low crime here, the Cullens had said, because the prestige of the Volturi wouldn’t allow it. Appearances were important to them, and they couldn’t reside in a good and proper city besmirched by crime. It also meant that if I weren’t careful, someone might notice me watching, or worse, catch my scent.  
As a matter of fact, I’d be very lucky indeed if that was all they caught, since I teleported into the city there is a good chance they don’t know I’m here, assuming they watch the borders, but there’s no way they don’t smell fire and death, and as I’ve only just become aware of my breath, I couldn’t know if I had it under control. I think that magic might be my only solution, if I could just know where the treasure was. I could teleport in, snatch all the goodies, and then vanish. God, the thought of that treasure in my possession is making me drool!  
My skin, while flawless in the way of alluring vampires, doesn’t sparkle in the sunlight; so I look like a super model to humans, but to a vampire, I’d imagine it looks like I’m wearing makeup of some sort, or maybe some other trick but a something-not-human none the less. Even if they assumed I was human, I run the real risk of them pursuing me to join their ranks, as beauty is coveted in the humans they turn, if they so much as see me in person.  
Between my skin and my eyes, I need to take precautions to stay unnoticeable. I’m wearing very dark sunglasses, which hides my eye color from humans, but just makes them less noticeable to vampires, and I’ll have to take care not to look one directly in the eyes. I’ve added fine, small amounts of dirt and grime to my skin so that it doesn’t glow. By my estimations, to a vampire, I look too colorful to be a vampire at a glance, as they are markedly pale.  
A plan is forming in my mind as I finish up my coffee, my ravenous appetite falling to the background of my focus. First I’ll need to gather information on the structure itself, with a little research and social engineering, to see where such treasure might be hiding. I know that even if the Volturi coven don’t keep records of their dealing themselves, there should be histories and paper trails all over the place for the construction of the castle and the town, even if a vampire personally built it. Where did the materials come from, where did the trade come from? People wouldn’t have settled here if there weren’t jobs and agriculture here; if vampires built the first settlements and nothing else it would have appeared to be a ghost town.  
Starting with the source material, I know that the Volturi founded Volterra three thousand years ago, in the time of the Etruscans, who emerged sometime around sixth century BC. That wasn’t incredibly useful, but it gave me a starting point in visiting museums around Volterra, the Etruscan museum to be precise. Here I learn that the town is considered to have been continuously inhabited by at least eighth century BC, which unfortunately means the “town” existed around six or seven centuries before the Volturi ever arrived, as an Etruscan center, beginning as a Bronze Age settlement of the Proto-Villanovan culture. The “town” it seems was one of “twelve cities” of the Etruscan league; here then, is the reason for settlement and trade. The museum also points out however, that the town was growing considerably bigger around the time the Volturi are said to have arrived, and this may have been why they chose this place.  
It doesn’t escape my notice either that shortly after the Volturi are said to have arrived, the Roman theatre of Volterra is estimated to have been built; even then they were practicing the arts. After they arrived, the city continues to blossom and grow, becoming a municipium allied to Rome at the end of the third century BC, and a bishop’s residence in the fifth century.  
So here we have my starting point for an architectural research; when this castle was actually built versus when the Volturi are estimated to have taken ownership. I highly suspect that it was after the Volturi took possession that the underground portions and tunnel leading to outside the town wall were constructed. The castle was built in the medieval time period, incorporated into the walls of the city, which puts it at around the beginning of the Etruscans fortification into a proper city.  
First, I’ll need to find where architectural drawings, if any, exist in the histories of the city. Any that have survived would surely have been influenced in accuracy by the Volturi in the interest of secrecy, but records should also allude to the underground portions. It’s very hard to hide an extensive underground network when things like plumbing and electricity are introduced, lest someone discover a cave system under where they are trying to lay a water main. There should be false notes somewhere to deter construction from tearing up or unveiling the hidden structures, either by suggesting that something else is there or suggesting a route for these things to rather go.  
Next, I need to discover the identity of the Volturi’s correspondence for the construction in and around the castle; who arranged for the castle itself to have plumbing and electricity, if it does indeed have those amenities (it should). The castle itself has empty offices inside, but also security cameras, an elevator, etc. as well as human receptionist (plumbing). By finding that name, I should be able to search documents by that name, and hopefully uncover more.  
The first was fairly easy to find in the local library, although, reading it was another matter as none of it was in English. Good old fashion plot magic, to the rescue ha! These drawing plans were a reconstruction or redrawing of what was evident in the castle itself, and it proved what the source material suggested. Many offices on the first and second story, with plumbing and electricity supplied. The third floor was the solid supporting structure for the turret on top, and these specific plans showed no access from the second floor to the turret, although we know from the source material that there is access, it’s how Bella, Edward, and Alice left the Volturi, and that there must be some chamber that the Volturi use to dispose of their victim’s bodies via acid, because the turret host their “dining area,” and this chamber must be in the “solid” third floor. We know that their victims get into the turret dining room from the tunnels beneath the structure via elevator, so there must be negative, hidden space somewhere in the first and second floor to allow elevator access to the turret from the lower levels.  
With these floor plans, I began some social experiments to gain even more information. We know from the source material that the underground tunnels can be accessed from the city sewers, and that there shouldn’t be any heating down there. If I could somehow tap this place with surveillance, I could rig some triggers to get desired responses and intel.  
Phase two of intelligence gathering now, it is time I find out who that correspondence is. I know from the source, that in some way it has to eventually lead to Gianna, the female receptionist in the sewers, or maybe even Heidi, the procurer of meals for the Volturi, but I could be wrong. To test this, I wrapped a big bandana around my head and greased my hair. My dark sunglasses stayed put, and I donned a dirty black t shirt, some ripped jeans and a heavily stained overcoat. A red and white stripped seeing stick finished the look.  
With a little magic, I summoned a heavy rain storm, and shuffled into the front reception area of the castle.  
“You don’ mind if I wai’ here a while till the storm pass do you?” I ask the receptionist politely, speaking in her general direction. She looked maybe late college age, early grad student, with immaculate professional attire, and had been wearing a bored expression before she put on her customer service as soon as she saw me.  
“Not at all,” She answered politely, “Is there anything I can get you while you wait?”  
“No thank you, I’ll be jus’ fine. Is there anywhere I can sit so I won’ disturb anybody?”  
“There are comfortable seats on the far right wall coming in from the door that you are more than welcome to.” she said. “Let me know if you need any assistance.”  
I could see in the words that she was curious about my English; I’d been so focused on appearing to be a blind beggar I forgot to change my speaking language. All well. Reaching out with my magic, I blew a transformer I’d previously assessed to be responsible for the castle’s power, and all the lights went out.  
I carefully kept myself from reacting to the dark like a human would; she could still see me a little from the light of the street. I knew that there were cameras in here too, but I didn’t know if they offered infrared, and better to assume they could. The receptionist tried the phone, then looked around, waiting to see if the power would come back. I had actually shorted the transformer, so it would need to be replaced before the city could power the castle, but just like I had suspected, there weren’t any backup generators.  
Reaching out with my awareness, I tried to predict the chances of a vampire coming to check on this room if the video feed was disrupted and when would be appropriate to magic the power back on. If the cameras and such had batteries like a state of the art security system should, they would still be recording, but then when or how would someone know if they were out. I couldn’t imagine what kind of incentives or motivation the Volturi could offer a vampire to take the roll of security guard, but then again it was something to pass the time in the city, and I knew they watched for crime anyways. I waited until the power had been out for a concerning amount of time, but not long enough for an unwanted protector to show up, then I fixed the transformer.  
As the lights came back, the phone rang at the desk. The receptionist picked up, and with my supernatural ears, I tuned in.  
“Castle Volterra, this is Amanda speaking, how may I help you?”  
“It’s how may I direct you, Ms. Amanda, the only “help” you can offer our guest is to direct them to where they need to go. Is that clear?” said the altogether human voice on the line.  
“Yes Ms. Gianna, perfectly clear. Please excuse my greeting.” Amanda answered quietly, rolling her eyes before catching herself and glancing my way, and then blushing.  
“Are the cameras working properly? Can you see the lobby feed?” Gianna asked curtly.  
“Yes, everything is working now, the lobby feed stayed on throughout the power out, just the lights went out.” Explained Amanda.  
So, the cameras were battery supplied in case of a power outage. And Gianna was the correspondent, or at least she tried to be. It sounds like she tries very hard to be useful, but did that make her the manager of interns, or the manager of estates. If I pulled up her name in a list of business and property owners, would her name show up anywhere so I could tabulate which properties specifically were pseudo-owned by the Volturi? I knew that she was human, but if human receptionist only lasted for say, 15 years before they were retired, that’s a lot of ownership transfers. And who knows how long the Volturi would consider a person to be pretty enough to be acceptable, not to mention the tendency to put up with less as a person ages.  
“Clean and disinfect the seating area when that beggar leaves.” Gianna said, ending the call. Amanda looked relieved and annoyed, setting down the receiver, but still polite on the surface for the cameras. It was time for the rain storm to end.  
“How’s i’ lookin out there?” I asked to the room.  
Amanda peered out the windowed door, “It looks like it’s clearing up sir, I think you’ll be dry for now. Do you have a hotel or group I could call to pick you up?” she asked.  
“No tha’s alrigh’, I’m no’ too far away to walk. You take care now.” I say, shuffling out the door. She seems down to earth, Amanda.  
I walk carefully in the guise of being blind until I’m away from prying eyes. Now, there isn’t any reassurance that the treasure I’m after is underground in the Volturi lair. It could easily be kept in a more traditional vault, a bank, which the Volturi may or may not own. But I’m betting that the really good stuff, the treasure that the world is unaware of, is down there. Still, I’d like to be methodical, and check around.  
Later, looking at property owners in the area, I find less than useful information, disheartening facts. Gianna, Heidi, or any other known vampire associate names were missing from property ownership data. Properties in the city data are owned by many names, enterprises and businesses, and there isn’t but a few that are owned by the same, at least nothing that sticks out as unusual.  
Maybe I’m approaching this from the wrong angle; I’m counting on the Volturi to be sloppy, make mistakes. Presumably, even if they were transferring ownership every fifteen years for persons, (but not enterprises), they have the means to do so, and they of all people wouldn’t slack in their due diligence to appear invisible. I mean, finances aside, who’s to say they don’t own the city hall, or the Department of General Services? There should be paper trails, yes, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t in a sea of paper, a mountain of history, and the Volturi had had centuries of practice. If I was going to somehow sift through all of that, which, first of all, I wasn’t sure was within my abilities to do anyway, I’ve never been a banker or an accountant, why wouldn’t I just quickly teleport in and out of all the rooms in the castle?  
The whole advantage of being a ghost is that no one can see you anyways, and walls aren’t an obstacle. I’m playing this book on hard mode; I need to “see” where that treasure is but I can’t be seen or sensed, and this constraint is proving to be a real bitch. I haven’t even been at this for long, maybe two weeks but I could feel my need for treasure pulling at the edges of my restraint, my rational will to do this without breaking the plot was crumbling, my story self was being tugged along into the plot.  
There just is no way to find out where the treasure is without seeing it in person, and there is no way to see it in person without being detected. That is, without magic.  
Scrying magic is something that my mythological dragon self possesses of course, but on the author side it’s dangerous to use for me. Because the plot magic in me is so powerful, there is a risk that whatever I scry, as a direct result it is actually written into existence. The book makes no mention of where the treasure is in the Volturi lair, so if I were to scry it with dragon magic, by necessity a solid, real location needs to exist in the story, and that brings it dangerously close to being accidentally written in by the plot magic. And if it gets written in, there will be backlash.  
But I’m out of options, and to be honest, it had to happen sometime. At some point, being injected into the story like this I have to make an impact, because I am a character now. I really wanted to stretch this out longer, bask in the sun, and eat good food, experience life. Maybe turning into a dragon was a stupid decision, or maybe I just feel that way now because it’s forcing me to be a character, I don’t know. The plot must go on.  
First, I teleport to my own lair. It’s so good to be back, I can’t help but smile. I wonder if I should eat a feast right quick before I start? No, never mind that, let’s begin. With just a barely conscious thought I begin expanding my lair, building it tall and wide, large enough for my dragon form to exist in here. Then I begin the Scrying.  
If I was going to do a magical heist, I’d do it from the comfort of home, and that’s just what I do as I cast my imager in front of me and take a seat on my couch. The Volturi castle is displayed before me as if I was there, but it leaves no trace whatsoever, and it moves at a blinding speed through the grounds and tunnels. I see rooms and rooms full of arts; paintings, instruments, stages, sculptures, on and on. I see a good number of the Volturi guard and random vampires moving about as well, Aro and Marcus.  
And. Then. There. It. Was.  
Treasure… great chests of it, shelves and shelves, spilling gold coins, exquisite jewelry, and gems of great size and every color, and everything shiny. It’s organized in a way I can’t fathom while it’s before me, year of acquisition maybe. All of it pulls at my singing heart, my bulging eyes flitting as quickly as they can to take it all in, nearly all of my considerable focus consumed by it. Over there I see the jeweled box that started this frenzy, and I can’t stop myself. With a snap of my fingers, I take it all. All. Of. It.  
Bella didn’t like this necklace or the box, why should this be a problem then. And what do the Volturi need with it either, keeping it boxed up like this. Something about the plot…  
Before I’m aware of what I’m doing my body expands, stretches into its glorious dragon form, my claws gouging into the stone floor, my wings whipping loudly through the air as they stretch out. Fire fills me in my chest, death reeks out from my terrible maw. Laughing, I gather it all up into a great pile and burrow into it, letting it fall all around me. I feel that terrible feeling releasing, pent up all this time, finally fading away. It’s so relaxing, so contented of a feeling, like all is right with the world. I feel dazed in the most beautiful way, high on my treasure, sleepy even. My eyes close and all is perfect, and my slumber begins.


	4. Waves Awakening

A wave crashing through the words awoke me. I stared blearily around my Lair, gathering myself, realizing what I had done. The wave was changing damn near everything in the story, and at once I could empathize with Alice. Searching around in my author’s eye, I could see all sorts of things changing around me, plot lines shifting course, things happening differently. Fuck, this was going way different than I had imagined.  
I lay in my pile of treasure, no doubt damaging some in my eagerness to slumber, and reflect on my decisions. It was all my fault of course; changing myself into a dragon, what was I thinking? Bella went on for quite a while in the books one hundred percent human, why couldn’t I? I even have plot magic at my disposal, it’s not like I was away from comforts or in any real danger.  
Sighing heavily and filling the room with sulfur and ash, I try to remember how it went in other books I’ve been in. It’s really hard to tell how well a side character will fit in in any given story, injected as I am. Sometimes I can live for a really long time and take it easy, enjoy the sun and whatnot, before I need to make myself relevant. There are countless romance novels where only two characters make up the main plot, and I can play a desk clerk at the store they meet or a coworker for the whole duration, so why was this one different? More characters sure, but it was all really about Edward and Bella.  
There are plenty of paranormal romances too, where changing my characters form isn’t a big deal. I’ve lived as vampires, werewolves, demigods, lesser demons, etc. before, no problem. It usually is some form of hook, and not really all that important to the plot, almost a setting really. The characters are set in a framework of humanity, always, and that’s what drives the interactions, the catalyst of the chemistry. Otherwise, the characters would be too alien for the reader to relate to, and the story would take on a philosophical approach, an academic study in humanity itself, so to speak.  
So what then, is going on here? If I don’t get a handle on it, and soon(!), I won’t be able to predict how my own involvement will affect the plot, I won’t be able to stop myself from destroying it. I mean, sure I’m a dragon, and that was bound to have some plot baggage, but this, this insatiable urge pulling me into things I’m trepidous about… This story is pulling me in and I’ll have to become a main character now, at least as important as Alice or Carlisle.  
Let’s see here, to start, there must be some manifestation of an idolization for supernatural creatures underlying the plot. Some kind of fetishized idea for the supernatural present behind the characters motivations. Both the vampires and the werewolves express in different parts of the story an angst at being what they are, which, isn’t that unusual I suppose once love gets involved, especially in an intersection with mortals. But Bella who is mortal, is fascinated and drawn to the supernatural; subconsciously at first, she feels like she truly belongs with the supernatural, like living apart from that is an unfulfilled life. Now, don’t get me wrong, I feel the same way, at least that it would be amazing to have super anything, and sometimes living without them feels like a coming to terms with an unpleasant reality. It depends on what book I’m in, but if it has super powers or anything of the like, I take it. Bella the main character runs straight for it, though her loves, Edward and Jacob both loathe it.  
Going deeper still, there is also this element of sacrifice to immortality. Again, not that unusual in a reflected lens from the writer’s perspective, who most certainly is not immortal. It’s hard for mortals to grasp the concept of immortality; what it means to you now versus five hundred years from now. Suppose for a moment that death is a necessary part of life as we know it. That without death to contrast life with, life becomes bland and without vibrancy. What do you dream for, hope for, if time doesn’t run out for you, what you don’t have!? HA! But that’s humanity talking, that’s what immortality means to us as mortals. The vampires are stuck, frozen in time the moment they are changed, unable to bear children, unable to grow, or evolve as a person. The werewolves too, had to give up change in order to hold the wolf; unable to bear children or grow old. And they hate it for the vibrancy it was traded for. The loss of fitting in with other mortals, belonging to the human race, because they weren’t separated from their humanity, just their mortality. They considered themselves to be monsters.  
It makes me think Edward was on to something about not having a soul. In exchange for immortality, the characters were separated from an important aspect of humanity; death. Their bodies didn’t decay, and that had an effect on their soul. It sounds obvious as first, of course being immortal means death isn’t a worry, but the void left is deeper than they realize. When your existence can only end through murder or suicide, death becomes something of a lost lover. I’ve been in an unfathomable amount of books, lived uncountable many lives; I know this well.  
In compensation, your soul evolves into something else, something separate from traditional humanity, a strange and bizarre hybrid, at once a shell of who you were but also a titan of a vessel compared to your old soul. Perhaps because it was once human, it remembers its old ways and weeps; the ghost of who you were remains to haunt you in ways a mortal mind can’t comprehend. The memories and feelings the soul produces spring forth and stretch to an impossibly large space, the core of you possesses a gargantuan capacity at utter odds with the tedium of endless days.  
In this story though, love is the caveat. With love, a werewolf could happily be whatever their object needed. As soon as they could master themselves to be what they needed to be they could end the tedium. Or not, and live happily for their imprint. You’d think that not needing to eat or sleep would lead to the craziest orgies ever imagined, but that’s not the case with vampires, who mate like penguins. They too could live happily forever after with their mate, companionship giving vibrancy to their frozen lives.  
I think there is a very steep slope in the plot that I’m particularly vulnerable to, very much in danger of. There’s a very high probability that because I’m so ancient, this story will suck me in with a power I’ve rarely faced; the need for companionship. The actual story is about an old vampire falling in love with a human, but he wasn’t just old, not like me he wasn’t. He had been stuck for a long time, frozen as a teenager, alone. Alone like I me, although I wouldn’t call myself frozen in the sense of having a young soul forever. The more I’m in contact with this story, the more the plot will suck me in to be a bachelor, the longer I’ve been alone, the more desperate the plot will pull.  
It’s going to try and find me a soul mate. That must be it, damn it. My eye rolls just thinking about it, nothing could be worse. I’m all for living it up while I’m here, but for the love of sanity, I can’t fall in love. Not when it must end and I must go on. No matter what happens, I’ve never been able to keep so much as an ice cream cone between one book and another, much less a person. Who wants to make a best friend if it has to end? I don’t want to think about it.  
I get up, finally, and change back into my humanoid form and get dressed. I look proudly at my treasure, glistening in my pile. I shouldn’t leave it like that, all in a mess, and I sort that out while I conjure breakfast. My lair is getting to be quiet the size now, with an enormous sleeping chamber, a sizeable living room complete with a planning area full of white boards and notes. Now there is a treasure room, directly connected to my sleeping chamber, a wide alcove opening into a spacious well-lit area letting me see it displayed from where I rest. Everything is tastefully placed so that any one piece sits in a spotlight, while at the same time stepping back fills your view of treasure.  
After clearing up my whiteboards, I start looking through the words at the changes. First, the Volturi have not yet discovered their treasure missing, but it can’t be too long now, I’m guessing. I’ll have to make very sure that it doesn’t affect their mood when Edward pays a suicidal visit to them later. After that though, who knows? Maybe they’ll have a hard time keeping Caius from a vengeful murdering spree. Carlisle and the others know of me from our very short meeting but have yet to see my new immortal form(s) and don’t have a way to contact me or find me. This is good for now, because while I want to eventually integrate into the Cullens household, I haven’t thought of a way yet to deal with Alice trying to use me to help her later. I’ll be invaluable in the battle against the newborn army, and immensely helpful in finding witnesses.  
Speaking of Alice… wait! Where am I in the books!? I look around in my mind’s eye, finding the date. Geez, I slept for months! I knew that unlike vampires, I had to sleep, but the whole time I was plundering treasure I hadn’t slept, hadn’t even thought about it. Did my sleep accumulate like a debt, or was it a seasonal hibernation? Ugh, this was going to be annoying to work around.  
At this point in the book, Edward and Bella have fallen for each other, and separated too. Bella was about a weekend away from jumping off that cliff, and Alice coming to find her. Alice. That was who I wanted to see next. It’s written that she and Edward get along so well because they were both part of the club of people who could see what no one else could, and I was hoping that we could be friends in the same manner. Plus, I have insider information on her origins that she might find interesting, and maybe that could be the start of our friendship.  
Casting about, I find her, she’s visiting the Denali Clan with the Cullens, minus one… but they’re having a good time. Checking my outfit, I make my jeans new and clean, and I’ve chosen a cream colored cashmere shirt. Hiking boots complete the dress, and I debate on if I should wear gloves to hide my clawed fingers, but decide it would be better to get it out in the open and over with. They would hear my heartbeat after all, and may not know immediately I’m not human, eyes be damned.  
I teleport some twenty yards away from the Denali family home, a beautiful house lit brilliantly in the snow… which is cold and unpleasant. Well now I know how I feel about cold climates. It doesn’t bother me the way it would a human, it’s more like when your coffee isn’t prepared the way you like, and I could be here and it would be fine, but I would miss the warm. Walking up to the house, the door opens just as I reach the porch.  
Eleazar looks out at me from just inside the door, “Hello.” He says politely. Inside I can hear others stop chatting to see who has come. Eleazar, the vampire who can sense peoples unique talents, hmm. I forgot to consider what I might appear to be for him, and I’m sure that I should shield myself from his talent. But this is the end of hiding from the plot, and I’ll have to join the world of Twilight whole heartedly from here on, plus I’m burning with curiosity what he would see in me.  
“Hello, Eleazar I take it?” I extend my hand slowly forward in a shake gesture, but I make sure that it’s a polite and open one, and most importantly nonthreatening.  
“My name is Sage.” I say. Eleazar quickly glances at my fingers, just a ghost of surprise flitting across his face before he smiles as he extends his hand to take mine.  
“Welcome, Sage, how do you know…” but he trails off as his eyes bulge open, shocked frozen. Puzzled and curious, I look in the words to see what he sees in my abilities. Oh no.  
He’s sensing what must seem to him like God level powers hidden in me, churning and broiling, but he can’t even focus on that, can’t even spare more than a passing thought for it because my scent has reached him. Danger, Danger! It screams, fire and death, get away, run away!  
“I won’t hurt you Eleazar!” I hurry to say, but in an instant I’m nearly tackled away from him by a blur of blonde hair. Kate is pushing me away from the door, guarding poor Eleazar, and she’s shocking me for all she’s worth. I don’t let it hurt me, and move with her, letting her take me away from hurting her friend.  
“I won’t hurt any of you,” I insist, stopping her once we are safely away, catching her with my sincere, intense gaze.  
Kate looks at me bewildered but fiercely, ready to fight me to the death. “How are you still standing!?” she exclaims, holding her hands ready to shock me again regardless of their effectiveness.  
I extend my hand the same way I did for Eleazar, looking pointedly at Kate, “My name is Sage, it’s very nice to me you, Kate.”  
She looks at me unblinking, breathing heavily in the excitement, not backing down or taking my handshake. “You!” says Alice. The others have filled out of the house now, Irina next to Carmen, who was holding Eleazar close, Jasper and Emmett closing in followed by Rosalie and Alice.  
“Do you know who this is?” Ask another beautiful blonde vampire, Tanya, coming down the porch to stand next to Kate.  
“My name is Sage,” I say at the same time Alice says, “We’ve met briefly before.” Alice eyes me suspiciously, guarded.  
Cursing myself for ever thinking it would be fine to be a dragon, I say carefully, “My name is Sage and I’m a friend of the Cullens. Family, actually, but they don’t know that yet. Where is Carlisle?”  
All of them look a mixture between surprised and doubtful, Alice and Jaspers mouth twitching, before Tanya asks, “Your scent betrays you, Sage, why do you smell like that?”  
I try to think carefully about how to address this. I want to say, “Why do you smell so good to humans?” but that would send the wrong message I think. Before I can come up with a good reason though, Eleazar calls out to Tanya.  
“Careful Tanya,” he implores, “That man has the most powerful talents I’ve ever seen, incredible power.” Softly he says, “I don’t know that anything is impossible to him.”  
“Okay, that’s true, especially for you Eleazar,” I say, “but that’s not why I’m here. If I wanted to harm you I could easily do so.”  
“I’d like to see you try” taunts Emmett. Kate looked ready for round two. “How do you know so much about us?” asks Tanya.  
“Look it’s hard to explain. How does Alice see the future? How does Edward hear thoughts? I know a lot of things, and I can do a lot of things. But what I can’t do is stay away from the story any longer, and I have nowhere else to go. Where is Carlisle, he’ll vouch for me, I’ve helped him before.” I say, looking around for him, but I can see in the words now that he is on a hunting trip with Esme, damn.  
“It’s just that I’ve never in all my time encountered such a dangerous scent, please forgive my rudeness.” Says Eleazar at last, crossing the distance to shake my hand. “It was I who was uncouth, I should have remembered what it would say to you.” I smile in reply. It doesn’t help, as I remember my fangs, again.  
“So what are you anyway?” asks Tanya, shaking my hand as well, careful of my claws.  
“I’m a dragon.” I answer. Emmett cracks up into a fit of laughter. Just about everyone else looks surprised and uneasy, with a few dubious glares from Rosalie and Alice. Jasper nods respectfully, but I can see in the words that even with the scent and my appearance they don’t really believe me. That’s fine though, I’m not going to change into my dragon form and have them all lose their minds in a panic.  
Irina, Kate, and Tanya are looking at me appreciatively and calculating but I can see they can’t get past the smell. “So, what were you all up to before I came?”  
Tanya laughed, “Well we were visiting with one another, but can you elaborate on that last part?” as she motioned me to come in. They all slowly followed in as well, cautiously.  
Once inside, I felt better immediately at the temperature change, even if it was just sixty degrees. The home looked like a spotlessly clean human home, warm and inviting. It almost felt like a bachelor pad though, or a sorority; immaculate decor filled the house in a tasteful way befitting someone of culture and class, but there was also plenty of space for lively partying, having ample dance floor space, an impressive entertainment system, and large inviting couches. The walls were living with impressionistic paintings of passion and desire. One suggestive hyper realistic love making scene led towards what must be the bedrooms and one portrayed a woman in sharp focus ecstatically dancing among a sea of colorful light.  
I felt at once comfortable but wary. Debauchery and carnal desires does not treat me well, but it does call to me hormonally all the same. I took a seat on the couch and took a deep breath, closing my eyes and letting it out slow. I could appreciate the atmosphere, and I felt at home with the idea of embracing your desire to have fun.  
When I opened my eyes everyone was looking at me. “A dragon?” asked Tanya. She, Eleazar and Carmen moved to sit around me. Emmett looked excited leaning against the wall, and Rosalie looked annoyed with him. Alice and Jasper sat across with Irina and Kate, looking skeptical.  
“Well, you don’t look like a dragon.” Said Alice  
“Can you breathe fire and fly!” chortled Emmett.  
“I can change forms,” I explain, “Yes I can breathe fire and fly and do magic.” Emmett frowns slightly and starts to look serious. “My dragon form doesn’t exactly fit in in this world, hence the humanoid you see before you.” If vampires could gulp.  
“What kind of magic could you do?” asks Kate, and I can see that this has piqued the interest of Rosalie as well.  
“Uhm, well anything really. Well, almost anything, there are many things I could do but that I really shouldn’t.” I really should stay away from bringing back the dead and the like. But the magic itself is one of the things I’m excited about to do with my new family. It will take a lot of time to prepare and plan, but I really want to bless them with gifts if I can.  
“And you want to live with us?” asked Alice.  
“Yes, I intend to live with you, or at least reside there often enough, I have a lair.” Emmett laughed again.  
“Like I said, I can’t stay away from your story anymore, I have to be a part of it.” I explain carefully. I don’t want to let on that I’m literally in a “story” with them, at least not yet, I don’t know how they would react.  
“I know you all have many questions, and I’m willing to answer them, but first, there is something I’d like to do, or share really. It’s going to change the tone though, so I’ll ask first.” I warn. “Alice, I want us to be friends, and so I’ve come up with something to help you. I have some knowledge that I think you’ve been searching for, about your human origins, and I was wondering if it would be okay if I shared it with you.”  
Alice’s eyes flash in alarm and surprise. Can she trust what I have to say? “That would be nice” she says carefully. I can see in the words that she really wants to know, so I start, “You were born in 1901 in Biloxi, Missouri.” And I tell her all that I’ve come to know from the source. She nods in understanding as I tell her of the shock treatments she received that erased her memories. She smiles sadly when I tell her of the vampire that created her, and his demise. I tell her the whole thing.  
The others left to give us privacy, and when I was done just Alice and Jasper were remaining. “I know that it’s a sad story, but I hope it gives you some closure.” I finish.  
Alice nods, processing, “Thank you” she says and Jasper thanks me too. I lean back into the couch. Now that that’s out of the way, hopefully we can all be friends. And I’ll be friends to them too, just carefully, for the sake of the story.  
Later, the questions start again, and I answer. Emmett wants to know if I’ll have a sparring match with him, but he hasn’t asked me yet, waiting for an appropriate time. Everyone is amused and delighted when I summon an enormous feast at their dining table and then slightly horrified when I eat every last morsel. I didn’t know this before, but my mouth opens wide, gaping almost like a snake when I eat, because they notice in the words but they don’t say anything.  
Days pass, and the Volturi still haven’t noticed that their treasure is missing; I’m starting to wonder if they check on it annually or something. Far away, in Forks, Washington, Bella wakes up to drive down to La Push, where she will find that Jake has left on a promising hunt for Victoria, and decide to go cliff jumping without him.  
I plan to assist from the sidelines when Alice gets her vision, pretend that I don’t know how it will end, which isn’t too far from the truth now that I’ve changed things. I’m still loathe to make an appearance to the Volturi just yet, but I’ll be watching and if it gets real bad I’ll step in. I lay back on the couch and wait for my next adventure to begin.


	5. Plot Dive

“Don’t hold back!” Emmett shouts from across the clearing. I smile, thinking how that’s not in his nature, either. The Denali coven and the rest of the Cullens minus Edward, Carlisle, and Esme are watching our sparring match. It really didn’t take long before Emmett challenged me, in fact he had thought about it around all of the other information I had shared about being a dragon.  
I had convinced him to give my humanoid form a chance first before he fought my dragon form, but it was that form that the others were all intensely curious to see, and I wanted to build up to that. I needed to step into my role, so to speak, and show off some magic before I took that form, as my in-story dragon character would be more prone to do in his humanoid form anyway. There was risk too though, and I needed to figure out how my character would handle it. My humanoid form is not as resilient to damage as a vampires, and I needed to work out how I would defend myself without using plot magic.  
If Emmett responded to magic anything like he did to Edwards mind reading, he would be deeply disappointed, to say the least. Poor Emmett, but it couldn’t be helped. Maybe I could make it up to him with his blessing… I would start with low magic, and slowly increase. I didn’t want to immediately ruin Emmett’s mood but this might be my only chance for a while to actually practice some battle magic, and I didn’t want to waste the opportunity.  
“One two three go!” and we meet fast, kicking off towards each other, clearing the distance in a heartbeat. Emmett’s charge plays to his strength, and he gleefully meets me with a punch. I match it with a punch of my own, putting a dense force field between my fist and his, and it cracks like thunder at the impact. I feel the concussion rip down my arm and through my shoulder, damn it feels like I’ve just punched a concrete wall at full strength, shattering bones and tearing ligaments. Immediately calculating with my lightning fast mind, I’ll have to put a spring in my force fields to dampen the blow on my side, or I’ll damage myself. But that’s all the time I have to think about it, because Emmett swings in with a haymaker, and I have to dodge back fast.  
Emmett keeps up the pressure, every step I take backwards he follows with a step forward. I lean back far, away from a wide hook shot, letting my head and torso point to the ground as I let loose a solid force fielded kick straight into his chest, knocking him back. Emmett is only stumbled for a split second though before he’s back, but it was just enough time to quickly heal my arm. I can’t stand here and trade blows with him, that’s not how to beat Emmett.  
It’s time to turn the dial up a notch. I summon a fighting clone, right behind me who steps back and makes another. They fan out to my left and right and come in hard with force field punches. Emmett’s face flashes surprise but then he grabs one of the clones and swings it around by the ankle in a hard circle, flinging the clone around into the other. On impact, it burst into dust, and then he’s smiling.  
“So you do know magic after all. I was starting to think it was just talk.” Emmett taunts, but smiling good-naturedly.  
I smile in return, “You haven’t seen anything yet!” and I summon two more clones. This time though I extend my claws, bleach white and deadly. Emmett engages with the two clones quickly, and as soon as he’s distracted, I teleport right behind him, holding my claws across his neck. Emmett freezes and groans in defeat. “Gotcha.”  
“Man you remind me of my brother.” Says Emmett, holding out his hand in truce and grinning. “He never plays fair either.”  
“Maybe I’ll have to spar with him too someday.” It would be fun I suppose.  
“YES! I’ll bet you’re a perfect match for him. OH I’d love to see him go down.” Emmett laughs.  
“That was very impressive.” Says Tanya. The Denali clan is looking at me appreciatively, but not Alice and Jasper, who are staring deep into each other’s eyes and whispering. Jasper is shaking his head, and Alice is too, but differently, insistent.  
“I’m afraid I have to go.” Alice says suddenly, looking despairingly away from Jasper.  
“Is something the matter?” asks Eleazar.  
“It’s Bella. I just saw her, I mean I just saw… I have to check on her right away.” And without further explanation she flitted away.  
“What’s up?” asks Emmett to Jasper.  
“Bella has… jumped off a cliff.” Says Jasper somberly.  
“Oh…” says Emmett, “Is she…”  
“Looks like it, but Alice is going to check it out anyway.” Said Jasper.  
“He’s not going to like that.” Said Emmett seriously.  
“I told her. We promised to stay out of it but you know, she’s friends with her in her future, or was. She might help with the funeral.”  
“Is this the mate Edward has been crazy about?” asks Tanya, concerned.  
“Yep… I don’t know what Edward will do once he finds out.” Says Jasper.  
“If he finds out, you mean.” Emmett points out.  
“Well of course he’ll find out!” exclaims Rosalie, “He was an idiot for leaving her anyways, and an even bigger idiot for falling for her.”  
“What do you mean if?” I ask, not sure what Emmett means.  
“It’s my brother, Edward. He fell in love with a human, but he isn’t willing to turn her, take her soul and all. He didn’t want this life for her, he wanted her to live a full and happy human life. So he left her, broke up with her and everything. I didn’t think she’d jump off a cliff though…” Emmett explains.  
“What did he think would happen in a hundred years from now? He is such an idiot.” Says Rosalie.  
Oh, right. Of course he’d eventually find out. Fucking teenagers. I knew that this was an important step in the process, but it still makes me cringe. Edward is too good for his own good, and a flawlessly selfless person is far more likely to become a martyr. Because selfishness isn’t a trait Edward possesses, he had to try, had to attempt to love her in the way that he could justify as being good; being at utter odds with how he views himself and his own good-ness. Edward had to learn for himself that he couldn’t live without Bella, to truly know it and believe it and all of its implications before their relationship could progress, before he could begin to process the next step.  
This is important for later. If he doesn’t come to terms with the fact that he can’t exist without her, and that she can’t exist without him, that being away from him hurts her emotionally, he’ll never come around to the idea of changing her. I think with Jacob, it’s debatable that she couldn’t live without him, but the book goes to great lengths to convince the readers otherwise. And she did jump off a cliff… Actual insanity, chasing danger. Edward had to exhaust all other options before he could accept that they can be good for each other.  
I wasn’t in the mood for more sparring, even if Emmett was, and I needed to eat anyway. Everyone else had joined me inside and were doing their own activities when I finished, as the day faded into evening.  
Jasper looked anxious and restless, and I wondered what he was feeling in the room. “Hey Jasper, I’m going to look out for her.” I say approaching. Jasper looks at me and nods. I can tell in the words it doesn’t help; he’s seen me fight with Emmett and doesn’t think I’m unbeatable, much less be useful to someone as resourceful as Alice.  
“Thanks, but how will you help her from here?” he asks pointedly.  
“I can see her.” I reply, “Her plane has arrived, she’s in Forks now.”  
Jasper looks surprised and a little relieved. “It’s not just that. Edward is my brother and I love him; I don’t want to lose him. I don’t want to feel what will be in our house when we do, either. It will never be the same.”  
“I don’t see that happening, I think it will work out.” I suggest, but I’m not sure if I can tell him that Bella isn’t dead. Jasper doesn’t look convinced, and I figure I’d better drop it for now. I can let my actions speak for me later.  
“Has anyone seen where Rosalie went?” I ask, looking around. I know that she’s going to make a phone call soon…  
“She and Emmett went to be alone. Rosalie and Edward don’t get along very well, but I’ve never found out why.” Said Jasper. Hmm, Edward hasn’t told a soul why that is.  
I lay back into the sofa and search around for Rosalie in the words. She’s upstairs and arguing with Emmett, having just got off the phone.  
“I mean that was harsh Rose, why is it important to you that he knows?” he’s saying.  
“Because otherwise he’s going to stay cut off from us wandering around God knows where in agony. I don’t understand what his problem is, but it’s better that he hear it from one of us.” Rosalie replied. And then her phone rang.  
“It’s Alice.” She said, answering. “Yes Alice? No he’s not back yet. Are you going to stay and help with the funeral?” Emmett listened in as well, and I could tell the others were listening from where they were in the house.  
“I called him and told him she was dead… Because he should know what’s happened and anyways, now he’ll come back instead of wasting his time tracking Victoria like an idiot.” She said exasperated. “What do mean wrong on both counts, is she not dead… But how is she alive if you saw her jump… And what do mean both counts, he’s coming back now, right?” The gasp punctuated the silence loudly. “He’s not going to Italy…”  
Emmett stood up quickly and loudly. “Oh my God! I’m so sorry, but why would he…” Rosalie and Emmett were down stairs in a flash, looking panicked. Jasper was standing too, speaking with his eyes to Emmett, who was nodding slowly. “We should wait for Carlisle, he’ll want to come too.” He said.  
“I’m going too.” Said Rosalie.  
“Haven’t you done enough?” asked Jasper.  
“I have to make this right, I didn’t think he’d do that!” she shouted.  
“Hey, why don’t you guys stay here, and I’ll go.” I offer. Not that I would stay if they refused.  
“Look I don’t know man, He doesn’t know you at all, and you don’t want to be found in Italy.” Explained Emmett slowly.  
But I wasn’t listening. Alice and Bella were in the car heading to the airport, which meant Jacob had tore off into the forest already, and I could make my appearance without too many introductions. I teleport into the back seat of their car, leaving Tanya’s family and the Cullens in Alaska.  
“Hello there Mrs. Alice, and you must be Bella!” I said enthusiastically. Bella screamed out loud in startled terror at the same time Alice shouted over her screaming, “Bella it’s okay, you’re safe. Would you stop dropping in like that! It’s incredibly annoying!” she glared into the rear view mirror at me.  
“Sorry, I’m here to help.” What in the hell is wrong with me, why did I make my greeting like that, is the magic going to my head?  
“Look I don’t have time for you, we have a plane to catch and I didn’t reserve you a seat.” She said angrily.  
“No really, I’m here to help, and you do have time, I can teleport us anywhere you’d like to go. Also…” I reach out into words and pull, hard. The distance makes it tricky, and Rio is just barely in the books, “I’ve summoned an enormous thunder storm over the city of Rio, it should be enough to delay all outbound flights.”  
Alice pulled the car over in a screech of tires and as a horn blared past us. “Take us to him right now! Please, Sage, take us to him.”  
“Well actually…” I begin, but then Bella was pleading too. “You can just… whoosh us there? Please, we have to stop him.”  
“I agree, but we have to stop him in precisely the right way, and for that we need a plan.” I explain. “I want to take you to my lair, there are some things we have to discuss, in detail.”  
“Your… lair?” asks Alice. “I don’t like that idea Sage, I can’t see what you do, and I still see Edward going to the Volturi.”  
“If we do this right, he’ll never make it to Italy. I need you to trust me, because I can save him right now, no problem. But I need to make sure that some other futures,” I look pointedly at Bella as I say this, “stay intact. I need to make sure some other things will come to pass, and for that I actually need your sight; in certain aspects it’s better than mine.”  
Alice looks over at Bella and sighs. “Okay fine. But no matter what happens, you have to help me save my brother. I really wish you would save him first, then we could discuss… other things.”  
I guess she’s right, and I am asking for a lot of trust. I reach out and find her third eyes vision, wriggling out into the world. I serve it several short visions, all with Edward not making it to Italy. His plane malfunctions and can’t leave the runway, Edward stuck for three hours before they allow passengers to disembark. Edward standing in front of Tanya’s house, explaining to Carlisle and Esme how he won’t end his life. Edward standing in my lair with the three of us, arguing. Edward standing in their own house here in Forks.  
I show a few other scenarios just to be safe and sure. Edward jumping into a bonfire only to find it completely extinguished before he lands. Edward about to cause a scene in front of a news caster only to find himself suddenly standing alone on top of Mt. Everest. Edward attempting to run to Italy instead of flying but stuck in an area loop. I even show her Volterra wiped off the map in a news broadcast about a nuclear bomb disaster.  
“There, will that do? No matter what I have to wield, Edward will not die before he sees Bella again.” Alice still doesn’t like that I can feed her visions, but she nods her head slowly in approval.  
“No, no Alice we have to go, we have to go now.” Insist Bella, jumping up and down in her seat. She hasn’t seen anything convincing that everything is going to turn out alright. In the words I see that she can’t accept it right now either, not after everything she just discussed and went through to prevent it, Charlie and Jacob running through her mind.  
“Ms. Swan, allow me to introduce myself. My name is the Sage, and that’s not my name for nothing, by the way. I’m the newest member of the Cullen family, extended to be honest, but mine none the less. You don’t know me yet, but we’re going to be family too, and I won’t allow any harm to come to Edward, no matter what happens.” This is good, I think that’s all the points I needed to get across. It should hopefully help Edward to trust me too later once he smells me, I’m thinking. Wasn’t there something else though?  
Bella looks hopeful but suspicious. “Alice?”  
“We can trust him, I think. He… magically he can protect Edward.” She finishes. Oh right, that’s what Bella doesn’t know yet, oops.  
“I can prevent all of this, but it has a cost, as Alice can explain to you. Changing the present changes the future, you see?” I explain, and Alice’s eyes flash with a sudden understanding. “In the original future, you and Alice successfully save Edward and bring him home, but the Volturi do learn of you, Bella, and that’s not good now. I’m inclined to believe that they were in a good mood, a hopeful mood, before and that’s why they let you go. Things have changed from that future though, and I can no longer be sure that you’ll make it back alive.”  
Alice nods knowingly, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. “It sounds an awful lot like there’s something that should happen also but now won’t, what is it?” I look at Bella before looking back to Alice. How should I put this? Can I tell Bella that the result of falling under the Volturi’s scrutiny is a solid arguing point for her becoming a vampire? I think I can, but not before she realizes that Edward loved her all along. It was that realization that gave her the idea in the first place.  
“If the Volturi let the three of you go, they would have had a condition…” I say carefully, and quickly glance at Bella and back, to quickly for Bella to notice. Alice nods slowly, beginning to grin.  
“Okay, take us to your lair, let’s get started.” Says Alice, resolved. Bella has that annoyed look on her face when she knows someone is keeping a secret from her, but it can’t be helped. I sigh inwardly; it’s going to be a long time before I can just tell people what I know, and there is still a few plot lines that will take a lot of tongue biting on my part. Eventually, I will exist in this story past what the author wrote, and if anything unusual should happen, I can’t have set a precedent for knowing all the answers.  
I carefully grab hold of Alice and Bella, moving the three of us to my lair near the whiteboards, putting Carlisle’s car at their house in Forks as an afterthought. The whiteboards and tables are just where I left them, with couches and rugs spread out in the attached living quarters. Alice lands gracefully all on her own, but I set Bella down on the couches because she is still in a sitting position from the car. I revolve slowly in a circle with my hands out, silently adding a fridge and a bathroom for Bella before saying, “Welcome, to my Dragons Lair!” In a quiet part of my mind I think maybe it’s the dragon thing warping me to be theatrical.  
Bella looks carefully around, finding Alice first. “It smells like a cave in here.”  
“I think it is a cave, or cavern at least.” Says Alice, who can hear that we are underground by the way sound moves and echoes against the solid rock walls. Alice looks around, puzzled as she catches a scent, and moves over to my sleeping chamber, searching.  
She breaks out into a peal of laughter, “Is this, I presume, why the Volturi aren’t going to be in a good mood?” Oh shit, I forgot about my treasure being so visible over there.  
“You know that’s from the Volturi? How?” I ask confused, but Alice just shakes her head. Did she see the jeweled box in Bella’s possession in the future?  
“Holy Crow, you’re rich!” Bella exclaims, having come over to see. Seeing her standing next to me, I’m briefly distracted be the frailness of her, noticing how the deep depression she’s been in has left signs all over her.  
“The Volturi are not going to like that you know.” Alice chides.  
“They don’t know that its been stolen yet, but soon, I imagine they will. And anyway they don’t try to give that box to anyone for like… a while.” I almost had said for two books…  
“You stole from the Volturi?” Bella asks incredulously.  
“Yes, but they weren’t using any of it anyway, not like me.” I respond.  
“What on earth could you possibly be using it for?” asks Alice.  
“Look, I’m a dragon.” I begin, but Bella interrupts, “Can we get to saving Edward now!?”  
I move over to the whiteboard and begin writing, and a thought occurs to me. As I’m writing, I bewitch the words so that they appear plain to Alice, but not to Bella. Here in detail, I write down the exact circumstances that begin the plot line of Bella becoming a vampire. It was the threat of death, and the unifying theme of family that beat out all of Edwards’s arguments.  
“Like I said before, the Volturi let you guys go on condition that you aren’t breaking the laws. I’ve got the recovery and the reunion worked out already, but to keep that particular piece in the future I’ll be needing your help.” I explain to Alice. “I’m going to feed you scenarios, and watch along with you to see what happens.”  
“Just do it quick,” Alice says anxiously, she doesn’t like it when I play with her vision, “I’m ready to have my brother back.” She really despises this wielding of her vision too, the words tell me. I spend a second trying to understand, and it comes to me; she doesn’t appreciate being treated like a tool. I’ll have to keep that in mind, it’s wrong to make her to feel like that; this will have to be the last time I do anything this way.  
“I see. I’m sorry Alice, I won’t operate this way again, I swear.” I say.  
“Thanks.”  
Bella had moved to sit on the couch, first jerky and hyped up, but now was starting to doze off, despite her psyche’s protest. She had drowned after all. I could tell she wasn’t happy at all about the secrets, but had been unable to figure out what the secret writing was about, and had decided to stay silent, hoping that it would ultimately save Edward and trusting Alice’s judgement.  
It didn’t take long, and once I had it figured out I was ready to execute. “Hey, we’ve still got a little time before we start. Why don’t we let Bella rest for a bit while you call Jasper. You can tell them all to fly down here when they’re ready. I have some things to prepare anyway.”  
“Will my cell phone work down here?” Asked Alice, looking at her empty service bars.  
“It will now.” I answer, and magic it to work.

===============================================================================================================================================================  
Edward stopped short, jolted still from running with shock. The thunderstorm had rendered flight impossible, and he had decided to run to the next available airport, where logic defying storms weren’t torturing him. He had reached another city when the storm kicked up just like before, not following forecast or known weather patterns. This was a punishment, he decided, a storm that would follow and thwart him from ending his misery.  
A huge strike of lightening had struck one of the buildings near him, and a blaze was working up. The lightning strike hadn’t touched him, but the sound of that voice worked even better than lightening ever would have. It was her voice, calling out from the blaze.  
“Edward! Edward no!” It called. With a startling realization, Edward allowed himself to imagine that she was calling him from the afterlife. He smiled, thinking of how sweet it sounded, like not a single moment had really happened where they weren’t together. He took a step forward towards the fire, and imagined the flames licking at him, consuming him away from this world and into the next. The world where his Bella would be waiting for him.  
“No! Edward look at me!” the voice screamed, but he closed his eyes and held out his hands taking another step forward. It sounded so frantic, could this be a trick? No, it doesn’t matter, he had waited long enough for an exit and this would do the job just fine. He didn’t even have to do something drastic like murder; Carlisle would still be proud of him. This time he would leap in, and hopefully it would happen too fast to really feel, but even if it did, no pain could be greater than this separation. He would hold Bella in his arms again, and anything else about the next life’s existence he could live with. Crouching slightly, he springs forward, directly into the fire…


	6. Reunion

“I can’t just pluck him out of where ever he is Alice, its rude and very disorienting. I’d need to meet him first at the very least, otherwise who knows what he might think happened.” I explain. Bella had awoken from her nap, nearly a full nights rest really, and wanted to know if we were ready.  
“For the most part, yes, but now I need to fill you in on the plan. I’m going to summon a portal disguised as a fire, that way it won’t be so jarring for him, and the portal won’t attract unwanted attention. Unfortunately, it also means that Edward will very likely think that he has died once he comes through, and I’m sorry about that, I don’t feel great about it.”  
Bella made a face between disgust and horror, but agreed. “I just need to explain to him that I’m alive… and then, I don’t know. I’ll convince him he doesn’t have to do this, that he can’t live like that.”  
I smirk before I can help myself and quickly recover. Soon they’ll be back together and the rest of the story can go on. I’m so excited to start working on blessings! But enough of that for now, I need to focus.  
“He’ll come through right here, so I need you to stand there,” I say pointing, “You will be the first person he’ll see. Are you ready?” Bella nods vigorously, “Yes.”  
“Okay, it will be just a minute.” As I set the portal, I summon my viewing orb that I used to plunder the Volturi, and hide it from Bella but not Alice. I’m positive that the sight of Edward leaping to his suicide will be disturbing and I don’t want to do that to her, but at the same time I think I must show it to Alice. Alice needs to know beyond all doubt that Edward attempts suicide, so that she can pass it on to the other family members. It will have implications, least of which for Bella’s immortality vote later. It was this key point, Edward choosing not to live without his mate that forces Carlisle to vote yes.  
Speaking into Alice’s head, “What you’ll see with me Alice I wish wasn’t true, but I need you to know anyway, and I’m sorry you’ll have to see it.” Alice nods almost imperceptibly.  
“I know what my brother plans to do because I’ve already seen it, in dozens of ways.” She thinks back to me. Right, poor Alice, that has to be tough. “Thank you for saving him.”  
I smile back to her, and turn my attention to the portal. I’ve set it to call to him, but I need to make sure that he actually does jump in. I see in the words that he intends to, and sigh to myself in relief. “Here he comes Bella.”  
Edward shimmers into my lair with his eyes closed, smiling. At first he doesn’t open them, and I wonder what he’s thinking. Peeking in, he notices several things nearly at once, first that it’s much hotter here than where he just was and darker, he no longer feels the wind or the rain. His thirst has not gone away either, and for a brief moment he panics. He smells my scent in the air first, thick and concentrated that it is, but then he catches a small whiff of her scent and his eyes flash open. He stares at her for only half a second, Bella staring back, and then they’re embracing each other, and I step out of his mind.  
“That’s a pity,” he says, his voice mingling with sorrow. There wasn’t room for despair over his bemusement however, with Bella standing before him. “Carlisle was wrong. But you’re here? I don’t understand, that hardly seems fair, how could you be in hell?”  
Bella chokes with what could have been tired laughter. “You aren’t dead, we’re both alive.” She’s holding on to him carefully, as if unsure herself if she was really holding him again. Edward carefully lowered his face to press his lips to her hair.  
“Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath, hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.” He murmured. “You smell just exactly the same as always,” He continued. “I don’t care. I’ll take it.”  
“You really aren’t dead Edward,” explained Alice softly.  
“What was that?” asked Edward politely.  
“We aren’t dead,” said Bella emphatically, struggling away from his embrace to see his face. Edward struggled through confusion before looking around, taking the place in and spotting Alice and I, before turning back to Bella.  
Understanding seemed to rush across his face, but was clearly still wondering how this was possible, “How did I get here?”  
“I helped to bring you here,” I say, taking a step forward. “Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Sage, and I’m here to save this story.”  
Edward is standing between me and Bella in an instant, crouching in a ready stance. “You’ll have to get through me first devil, don’t come closer.” Ah well, he’s identified me as the source of the scent then. Fire and death.  
“I’m not here to torture you…” I begin to explain but something is nagging me. I’m not surprised by his reaction to my scent, but he just called me a devil. Does he still think he’s in hell? No, well maybe, but that’s not it there’s something else too, something deeper.  
Something about what he said, Carlisle being wrong. Damn, that was an important part of Bella and Edwards’s later conversation. Bella says to him that she knows he doesn’t really believe his soul to be damned because the first thing he says when he sees her is that Carlisle was right. Ah, shit, how can I fix this, it was so close to being right too! I swear, this whole dragon thing really is far more trouble than I ever planned to put up with. Getting sucked literally into the plot was bound to amplify anything I had done, and I ought to stop being surprised by it, but damn it, when is it ever going to get to the part where it’s awesome to be a dragon.  
Now, how to fix this. Belatedly I remember that I’ve set up this lair underneath the meadow where Edward first showed Bella his true vampire nature on purpose. In hindsight, that would have been a much better venue for this reunion. I had used Alice’s sight to help me see how to get Edward to Bella in a safe manner, among other plot things, but much more than that on my side of vision, I was also watching the whole chapter of the Volturi disappear, leaving much of my later plot walking free to enjoy. Checking with my own plot vision, in conjunction with Alice’s, that the important parts of Edward and Bella’s story would remain intact was just a small part of what I was viewing. There is a lot to look out for, removing such a big part of the story.  
What I hadn’t given much thought to was how Edward would react to landing in my lair, since I was in a hurry to be done using Alice’s gift invasively for myself, rushing so that I could stop making her uncomfortable. I suppose my lair could be an interpretation of hell in a way… This failure stung though, given that that was the whole reason I was using Alice’s vision in the first place, so that this would go off without a hitch, and also because hell is not the vibe I was going for when I built this place, but it was foolish to rush nonetheless.  
That was the hole in her vision too though, only seeing futures sprung from possible choices. It was foolish to forget that as well, especially after I’d just watched her family get bit by it, and now I’d have to redo this. Sighing heavily and giving Edward a farewell gesture, much to his confusion, but whatever he won’t remember it, I jump, across the pages back to a few minutes before I set the stage for Edward to come back.  
Okay, this time I move us, warning Alice and Bella beforehand, explaining that I’d had a vision, upstairs to the meadow before I lay out my plan to Bella. Here, standing in the meadow, Bella is a lot calmer too, as if she prefers it over my lair. Man, I thought my lair was really cool… well it’s probably on top of remembering better times here. And this time when Edward comes through the portal, he says the right thing, his voice full of wonder, slightly amused, “Amazing, Carlisle was right.”  
Only this time, there isn’t any cranky Volturi to deal with directly after. That encounter can’t happen at all now without a serious clashing, not after the Cullens have met me; my existence would be revealed at the first touch of Aro. Soon, Edward won’t be able to see them either on entirely other grounds, lest he reveal the reemerging existence of the wolves, although, I’m sure Edward and Carlisle have had time to come to terms with it, given that they were present for the treaty way back when. I wonder how Aro didn’t see the wolves when he originally examined him in Volterra…  
Edward, recognizing where he was, and reuniting with Bella, was now looking at Alice and me; me in particular. I let Alice do a lot of the explaining this time, nodding at the appropriate times, while I check the words for plot holes, musing about the Volturi and our delayed but eventual meeting.  
I can only imagine now what kind of backlash this will produce, thinking about it, but I’ll deal with that as it comes. I couldn’t stay out of the plot any longer, as being a dragon wouldn’t allow me. But the Volturi were playing the villain in this part of the story, and that played an important part in driving the plot. A lot of the other plot and decisions later on when dealing with Victoria, for example, but thanks to Alice’s vision, only consulting this time, I could safely summon Victoria here before she made her army and we could deal with her as a family, safely.  
I extend my hand slowly, and shake Edwards’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you Edward, my name is Sage.” Edward is a lot more graceful this time that we formally meet, having had time to adjust properly and witness me and my actions in Alice’s head as she retold the story.  
“You have my sincerest gratitude for helping me, helping us,” he says looking at Bella, “I can’t thank you enough.”  
“Thanks is more than enough,” I assure him. “But don’t forget to thank Jacob later too! Bella can fill you in.” I remind him. “And anyways, I think I’m living with you all now, so I’ll catch you later.”  
He smiles back, and takes Bella’s hand in his. Looking to Alice for confirmation, we leave them to catch up and discuss their feelings in privacy. Double checking the words, it looks like the conversation will go a lot like it did in the original story, minus Volturi, blood singers, and a whole lot of fright.  
“Hey Alice, do you see Bella coming back here to cast a vote yet?” I ask.  
“No, at least not in clear detail, it’s just one of many possible futures I see happening.” She responds, looking pensive as we run. She probably won’t see it for sure until they reach that part of their conversation anyways, but then something else occurs to me.  
“Okay, what about Bella becoming a vampire, do you see that clearer now?”  
This time she’s smiling, “I’ve seen that for a while now, and yes it does seem to be moving into focus. It’s almost a question of when now rather than if.”  
“Good, good.” I say cheerily. And I was genuinely in a really good mood too, running through the forest. Thinking back on it, I hadn’t actually ran since transforming apart from my brief sparring match, even though I had thought about it, and now that I’m doing it, I think it’s even more fun than teleporting. I should definitely do this more often; the trees and the green rush past me but none of the detail is lost. Creatures stir and hide as we zip past them, and my legs find a pace that won’t tire me out, which judging from how I feel physically and how hungry I am at the moment, feels surprisingly adequate, and not disappointing at all. And the speed, god the speed. Absolutely, breathtakingly glorious.  
We’re running back to the Cullen house too, and everyone should be there, if not fully settled in yet, along with Carlisle and Esme. When we arrive, I find Carlisle first.  
“It’s so good to see you again, I was beginning to wonder if I had dreamed of meeting you.” Carlisle laughed. “Thank you so much for saving my son, my family is forever in your debt.”  
“Not at all,” I say smiling wide. “I intend to live with you all for a good while anyways, so we’ll be family, and that’s what family’s do.”  
“We’ll be so happy to have you,” replied Esme, who was very happy to meet me and very warm hearted. "It’s been so long since our family grew, we’re so pleased to have you Sage.”  
The Cullens all gathered around to listen to Alice’s story of what had happened since her phone call. The Cullens had been zipping about, dusting and cleaning, clearing out dust covers from the furniture, and restarting services to the house, so that by the time we arrived, it looked like they had never left.  
“We’ll have to have an intervention with him.” Alice concluded. Everyone was nodding seriously, but spirits were still high now that everyone was safe. It wasn’t long before Alice and Jasper were canoodling with their eyes as they moved upstairs, and Esme was humming along to her work.  
We had decided that a closet would suffice for my room, much to everyone’s amused surprise after I explained my plan. It would act as a door to a portal leading to my lair, disguised to look like a regular closet standing outside, but if you walked through the far wall you’d find yourself standing in my living space. This way I had a protected place to appear rather than teleporting outside. At first Esme protested but once I invited them in they stared around in wonder. And this made me feel really happy, seeing them appreciate my lair. I’d have to get with Esme later and see what we could do to make it even better.  
I’d hidden my sleeping chamber, along with my treasure hoard too, so that no one else would find it even should I invite them here. They were beneath my lair on a second floor, but this basement floor was exclusively accessed via teleportation.  
Alice informed us not long after setting the closet up that Edward and Bella were coming over to have a meeting, and they arrived soon after.  
Esme hugged Bella fiercely, along with Edward “You will never put me through that again!” Esme growled.  
“Sorry, mom.” Edward grinned, repentant.  
“Thank you Bella,” Carlisle said. “We owe you.”  
Bella perked up at this, a gleam in her eye. Before she could respond though, Rosalie had come down stairs with Emmett, to make amends. It went about the same, except that Bella was awake enough to blush heavily when Rosalie apologized.  
She thanked me too, for saving her brother. Emmett gave me a good punch on the shoulder, leaving a big bruise I’d have to heal later. Bella requested that we talk in the dining room, and the vote went a lot like it did originally, with the exception of me.  
“I vote in favor of Bella becoming a vampire.” I proclaimed proudly, with Edward glaring at me. I looked him back in the eye long enough to stand my ground, but I didn’t antagonize him with it. Beneath my mask I felt kind of funny voting in the first place, I knew how it would turn out and that it would go that way without my vote, but at the same time I needed to keep my stake in the family. I had a reputation to uphold, after all, and as a sage I had to speak my mind.  
Edward stormed out after Carlisle cast his vote, and came back to Bella trying to persuade Alice to start the transformation right then, but having read this already, I tuned them out, my mind wandering elsewhere.  
Due to the way I had ended this book, there was going to be even more backlash, and it was going to be rather more serious this time than the specifics of my transformation. By my calculations, the book might try to bring in a new villain to balance things out, or it might introduce a new love interest. The Volturi shouldn’t be counted out of the fight yet, and I fully expected to see them later once Renesmee was discover by Irina. However, they did play a big part in the fight against Victoria’s army, standing back and allowing it to exist in the first place and without either of those two things happening, book three was looking rather empty.  
Now, I’m not sure that the Volturi would stay out of it if I allowed Victoria to survive, because now the Cullens weren’t on the forefront of Aro’s mind. I think that he does know of them, sure, and as an avid collector of power he might still play the same game, patiently waiting for his opportunity to acquire. I’d just have to wait and see, except now I’d have to act in the interest of my character, and I probably couldn’t manage to stay out of the fight with Victoria.  
Maybe members of the Cullens haven’t realized yet or won’t realize that I could easily locate her and extract her, right into the middle of a volcano, or Edwards’s capable teeth, but the moment that they did, I’d be surprised if she even lasted the summer. The part where this book ends and the next begins isn’t very clear, and I’m not sure what they would get up to under the assumption that she wasn’t a worry. Does Victoria keep performing territory penetration test over the summer? Or is that just where it picks up in book three? As soon as she did, it would be very suspicious indeed if she managed to escape from me, but maybe I’d be hibernating.  
And this leads me to my next problem, the integration of the wolves and the Cullens. Without the newborn army to force them to work together, would they ever? At the end of the book two, Jacob absolutely loathes Alice, just on grounds of being a vampire, and Alice and Edward weren’t much better. Without a common enemy, wouldn’t the enmity between the two remain the same? How would that effect later choices, like when Jacob takes his birthright as an alpha, because he feels so strongly that the Cullens aren’t their enemy?  
I might have to intervene somehow, but I was at a total loss at the moment for how to go about it. Maybe I wouldn’t have to, if I allowed Victoria to build her army, and the Volturi let it fester into the battle as it was. But that was two if’s, and the Cullens made it three. If the Cullens ever did put it together that I, of course, knew what was brewing and had the power to stop it, I doubt they’d be so cordial with me. Of all the things they might be understanding on, willing putting any of them in danger wasn’t one of them. And this was all beside the point of the moral conundrum of allowing Bree Turner or Riley Biers to be created just to die, and all of the humans who would die in the “Seattle killing spree.”  
If only there was someone I could talk to for help…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be my last chapter before I add and adjust my tags, which I've been learning about and how to do. So when the next chapter comes out, the work as a whole should be more extensively and appropriately tagged :)


	7. Plans

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but is there something bothering you?” Esme asked. We had been working together to decorate my lair, or redesigning it to look better than a cavern in the ground. Esme had been utterly delighted at my ability to magically alter my surroundings, and I had integrated with her mind to change the room as she envisioned it. When I’d offered my services for other projects she was working on she’d said that part of her enjoyment with restoration was the actual hands on work involved, but that she would keep me in mind.  
We had transformed my lair into something between a gothic guildhall and a warm, inviting city loft. Columns stretched out into a rib vaulted ceiling adorned with brilliant chandeliers, the now marble walls were broken up into sections of renaissance paintings illuminated with brass scone torches and beautifully carved friezes. A living area rested on a steel mezzanine and glass floor to the left of the antechamber, high above with a three turn spiral staircase, with comfortable couches and chairs situated to look over the hall.  
The halls biggest feature was the enormous red oak feasting table, stretching twenty feet in length and six feet in width. Large high backed chairs sat around it, carved from wood and cushioned. The whole area smelled profusely of me, Esme had told me politely, so much so that even a human would complain, and at her suggestion I had put a walk in fireplace on the far wall behind the head of the table. Magically, the fireplace would produce scented wood as well as warmth, if uncomfortably so for some although it really couldn’t be too hot for me. A single pointed arch opening led deeper into the lair, where we had installed bathrooms and an impressive kitchen to match the capacity of the feast table, for appearances at the very least.  
After a lot of back and forth, we had decided to construct an antechamber connecting between the lair and the closet, just in case someone did wander in. The closet now turned into a small hallway with coat racks and shoe shelves on either side, but walking further and around a corner would lead you to some stairs leading down and then to the antechamber proper. This chamber had stone tiled floors and the lighting shifted subtly from artificial to fire; suits of armor guarded the entrance as well as an illusion before the corner of the closet wall to make it hard to spot. At a glance, it looked like the far wall didn’t have a corner.  
I really enjoyed working on it, and it had given me a lot time to think about gifts and magical things I’d like to do for people, but in the back of my mind I couldn’t help thinking of Victoria as well. Soon I would need to do a hibernation cycle, and my time to decide what to do about her was running out. If I fell into a deep long slumber, I’d effectively let the plot run its course, and not save anyone from the consequences of Victoria’s army.  
The hibernation alone was giving me anxiety too, as I’d only completed one cycle before and it hadn’t been planned very well. I hoped that my hibernation would take roughly a month to complete, maybe a whole summer, and I had worked out some magical alarm clock ideas to make sure I didn’t oversleep and wake up to the middle of God knows what, but I was still feeling apprehensive about it.  
“There is one thing… bothering me. Something troubling I’ve seen, and I’m not sure what to do about it. I think I’m ready to talk about it though, with you and Carlisle at least.” I hedged.  
“Okay.” Said Esme, motherly concern running across her face.  
“I’ll call him in, if you’re ready too?” I asked and she nodded agreement.  
Carlisle was in his study reading. I cast my voice to be just a whisper next to his ear, so hopefully the whole house wouldn’t hear, and asked him to meet me. It would have been funny to see him jump, but Carlisle just closed his book and whisked away to the closet. If anyone else had heard my request they didn’t react to it, and kept on with their activities. In just a moment, Carlisle was standing before me, holding Esme and smiling at me.  
“How can I help you?” he asked politely. I waved my arm in a follow me motion and moved to the loft, quietly casting some barriers to stop sound from traveling past the antechamber. If you looked for it a vampire could probably detect it, but I was pleased with its subtlety.  
Once we stood up on the loft I turned to them and said, “For complicated plot reasons, I may have to alter your memories immediately following this conversation. I don’t do that lightly, and only for the safety of the family, but I want to warn you nonetheless.”  
Esme looked concerned and serious, Carlisle curious. “What’s this about Sage? I trust that you’d do what you think is best, but alter our memories?”  
“I’m going to really try to not have to resort to that, but I can’t make any promises yet. Given your pacifist stance towards violence, I feel like you’re maybe the only person who can keep up with me in untangling this problem, in all of its nuance.” I say low and serious. Carlisle and Esme are regarding me with rapt attention now.  
“There is a threat… wait, let me instead start with, are you familiar with the kill baby Hitler thought experiment?”  
Carlisle’s eyes lit with understanding. “You mean the ethical dilemma: would you kill Hitler as a baby, and therefore save the world from World War Two, but live with the black act of killing a baby?”  
“Precisely. Killing a baby is generally regarded as evil, and there isn’t any guarantee that it would prevent World War Two, the world could easily carry on into another world war because it hadn’t learned its lessons from the first one. And anyway, if you can time travel in the first place, why not kidnap the baby and place him in an orphanage in a different place or time? But that’s not engaging with the real question. Can a small evil now, prevent a bigger peril later?”  
Carlisle was nodding enthusiastically, “Yes, but the crux is that no one knows what the future will really hold, and the best we can do morally, is to act in the best, kindest interest of good faith. Hopeful, yes. Naive, maybe. But striving towards good is never a wrong choice.”  
“But what if you did know, Carlisle. What if you were sure of the future? I mean, we know, with someone like Alice, that sometimes the future isn’t as opaque as it is to everyone.” I stress.  
“We know better than most that the future is never certain precisely because of someone like Alice. We know that it isn’t possible to see all ends either.” Carlisle said confidently. “What evil, may I ask, are you contemplating?”  
“Indifference. I’m contemplating indifference to a threat to your family, to our family. I could snap my fingers, Carlisle, and all threats would be eliminated, just like that.”  
“But what threat?” asked Esme.  
“In a word, Victoria. But of course it isn’t nearly that simple.”  
“Yes,” answered Carlisle, “Dealing with vampires is never simple. If she can’t be reasoned with, we’ll unfortunately have to resort to violence.”  
“If it’s our family or her, we have to protect ourselves. I couldn’t bear losing anyone of us.” Agreed Esme.  
“Well, here’s the thing I need help with. Firstly, there is a third option, because I can do magic. I could send that bitch to the moon and leave her there for a decade. I could magically neutralize her thirst for vengeance, alter her mind by separating her from her feelings and memories, from herself, and let her spend the next century rebuilding herself as a person. I could conjure a very convincing illusion of James saying very mean things about her to her face, haunting and torturing her, casting aside any previous evidence that he ever cared for her more than the convenience of her talents. Etcetera.”  
Esme looked horrified at these suggestions, and Carlisle’s face had tightened into careful stoicism. I paused, looking at them because I didn’t mean to frighten them, but a vampire curse or prison wasn’t out of question any more, and that could change everything. I try to compose my face to show compassion.  
“I don’t say these things to upset you, I just want you to know that we don’t have to kill anyone if we don’t want to. Not anymore.”  
Carlisle looked like he was beginning to understand, and Esme was thinking hard. I refrained from looking into their minds, because I needed to stay focused on what I said next. I had to say it right.  
“Secondly, I’m afraid of what might happen to the future of this family if I did interfere with her. She is most certainly a threat, and she comes second in terms of the biggest threat your family will ever face; don’t doubt it. She is ruthless, cunning, driven, and patient. She absolutely must be taken seriously. But, in what I’ve seen, apart from a lot of stress and anxiety, you guys do defeat her, in the future, and you didn’t have me when you did it.” I winked.  
“This is the part that I’m really afraid to share. But it comes down to Bella and Jacob. As a direct product of the strife you’ll face, there is extremely important development that occurs with those two. The implications alone carry into the biggest threat that your family ever faces, and its ability to survive it. The wolves become a very important ally, critical to your clans survival. And Jacob becomes a support for Bella when she really needs it. Without this conflict, I’m afraid that it might never happen.”  
“What kind of development? With Bella I mean?” asked Esme.  
“She hasn’t said goodbye to being human yet, no matter what she says now. I don’t know that she wouldn’t get her goodbye done properly without Victoria, but I do believe that the time she spends with Jacob forces her to consider what a human life might look like in a strong, meaningful way; what life she is trading away for this one. It’s very important, not least of which because once she does become a vampire, her mental state will freeze, as you well know, and a development as big as this shouldn’t be taken lightly, but also for the resolution of it. The certainty of it, that this life, with Edward as a vampire, is the one she chooses in full understanding and peace of what the alternative is.”  
“I mean I agree with Edward on this one hundred percent, her transformation should be delayed as much as possible. It’s important to her that she doesn’t leave her teenage years since Edward is “still” a teenager, but I don’t think that emphasis weighs as much as the other things. It doesn’t compare at all to what is actually important for her.” I explained.  
“Let me see if I understand this correctly,” clarified Carlisle, thinking, “Victoria is a threat to our family, and a serious one, but not one that we can’t overcome. And you know that the threat she poses fosters the atmosphere Bella and Jacob need to mature in meaningful, life altering ways?”  
“In summary, yes. But critically, in the future I saw, I wasn’t here to help you, but I am now. I mean seriously, there is no such thing as Victoria outrunning me, and I’m willing to try a few tactics, especially in the category of Victoria’s capture and rehabilitation, but I’m worried… that I won’t have your blessing? Does that make sense? It goes against the grain to allow danger to come close to you, but I truly believe that for the sake of your future family, Bella and Jacob especially, need this to grow.”  
“But can you assure us that we will be safe? Actually safe, no one gets hurt or…” asked Esme, desperately.  
“Yes, I can. If I step away from the story now, there is no reason to believe that any of you would get hurt, providing that you treat the threat seriously.” I respond. Seeing her desperation meet mine, hearing her concern… it gave me an idea. Why didn’t I think of this before?  
I had magic at my disposal… Could I make charms to physically protect them? My mind raced as I considered the possibilities.  
“I think… you’re trying to do the right thing,” began Carlisle, “and I can’t tell you how much it means to me, the possibility of non-violent resolutions, but I can’t agree to any plan where any of us are in real danger. I’m sorry.”  
My mind was still racing as he said this. I was sure that they would be fine, so sure in fact that if I did make a charm, it would do nothing but give them peace of mind, and it shouldn’t mess with the plot either, because like I said, in the book they don’t face a danger greater than they could face anyway. At least not unified with the wolves anyway.  
“So what if I could assure in other ways? What if I could convince you beyond any doubt that you would all be safe?”  
“What did you have in mind?” asked Carlisle.  
“Magic. Specifically a charm of sorts. Vampires only have two vulnerabilities right? Fire and teeth. I propose a charm, one that would deflect, disarm, or otherwise neutralize threats of that nature. And if I recall correctly, there is a magic of this type already present in this world, in the form of a talent possessed by one of Aro’s guards.”  
Carlisle nodded, “Yes that would work for me. Darling?” he asked, turning to Esme.  
“Are you sure that they will work? I don’t know, what if they fail?” she asked politely. I could tell that she didn’t want to trust them so far as putting them to use, but that she also didn’t want to offend me.  
“Yes I’m sure. I’m willing to prove it, if you’ll let me.” I offer.  
“No! No, that won’t be necessary.” Esme gushed.  
“I give you my word, no harm from fire or teeth will pose a threat to you or your family once I lay the charm. No amount of bites, no intensity of flames will so much as touch you.” I say sincerely. It really helped that Alice had explained in detail how I had helped them save Edward, now I had something to push off of; they trusted me, and I could work my magic.  
“Then I’ll agree.” Said Esme. Carlisle nodded to me.  
“Right, now before I lay the charm, let’s discuss my plan. First, I’ll remove your memories until later, specifically the ones pertaining to charms, and dangers, so that you act naturally. I need you to behave as if you were in danger, as if you are concerned for Bella, and as if you must survive. You can’t know what is coming either. I’ll return your memories to you shortly after the battle. What you will remember, what you all will “know,” is that I’ll be here to help, but not outright solve problems with magic, because I’ve taken a vow to non-violence.” I explain.  
“If I have my sleeping schedule correct, I’ll actually be hibernating when Victoria is actively testing the territory line. When I awake, she won’t be trying to get in so much as she’ll be busy with her scheme.”  
“And we’ll be safe.” Esme said, double checking.  
“Yes, you’ll be safe, and when our plans come to fruition, Bella, Jacob, and Edward will have matured and grown, we’ll be able to try vampire rehabilitation, and no one will be the wiser.”  
I clasped hands, careful of my claws, with Carlisle and Esme. This magic was actually simpler to do with regular world magic than it was to do with plot magic. The charm, invisibly placed on each member of the Cullens, Bella included, would act as a physical armor to teeth marks and fire, but only to those types of damage. This would allow Bella to scrape her knees like normal, break her hand on Jacobs’s face, and not raise suspicion. The Cullens would be able to practice for the fight with the newborns, and play normally with each other too.  
I teleported into my hidden treasure room used for slumber, and transformed into my dragon form. I had had a chance to try sleeping in my human form, trying to test if I’d need to hibernate if I kept up a sleep schedule, but the best I’d been able to do was only slightly doze off for a few minutes. It felt like trying to make myself sleep only an hour or two after waking up from a full nights rest.  
In this form though, I could relax into it, the slumber called to me and all I had to do was surrender to it. I couldn’t very well fall asleep somewhere as a dragon though where someone might see me.  
Double checking my alarms, I planned to wake up somewhere around Bella sneaking away from work to see Jacob. I’d set them up to make noise, shake the room, and produce a blast of chilling cold air. If that doesn’t work I don’t know what I’ll do, but it should. Everything should go according to plan, and looking forward, I couldn’t see how anything could go wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, I've added some more tags. I hope you find them helpful.


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